1,2,3 Be With Me
by Maisie-Freakage
Summary: As a kid Darien Shield thought Serena Silvers was the best friend in the world.  They were inseperable until an old friend returned to town. After drifting apart, Serena soon has to leave and the two friends share a heartfelt promise but will they keep it
1. Prologue

**1,2,3 Be with Me**

**Prologue**

It was a snowy winter's day in the small town of Crescent Valley, where a small 6 year old boy with midnight black hair, a black coat, red scarf, scruffy jeans and white trainers sat on his front porch with his little legs cuddled against his chest as tear after little tear ran down his face.

He sat sniffling and sobbing his heart out as a small, little hand landed on his shoulder. A tiny gasp of surprise escaped his lips as his cobalt blue eyes looked up to find a pair of big, shining cerulean blue ones looking back at him. Wiping his nose with his coat sleeve, he hiccupped as he looked to find a tiny little girl of about the same age in front of him. She had golden blonde curls tied up in small pigtails and was wearing a pink coat with a hood lined with white fleece, pink woollen gloves and pink denim jeans with white snow boots. Tilting her head slightly to one side, the little girl asked "Why you crying?"

"Because" he sobbed "My friend left…just yesterday and…and I won't get to…to see him again"

The little girl ran of into the snow as the small boy continued to cry. Soon enough he was faced by a small roughly shaped snow bunny. His crying sobbing stopped as the boy looked from the bunny to the girl holding it out to him.

She smiled, as she said "Isn't it cute? My mommy said that making a snow bunny on the first snow of winter is a sign of good wishes"

"Really?" The boy sniffled wiping his eyes as the little girl nodded "Uh huh and she said that if you hand it to someone else then you're giving your best wishes to someone else" she handed the snow bunny to the boy and said "I wish that you see your friend again some day and that you can be my friend too"

The boy looked at the snow bunny and then to the little girl and smiled "Thanks, I'd like that, hey, what's your name?"

The little girl gave a bright smile "I'm Serena Usagi Silvers but you can call me Serena, what's your name?"

"I'm Darien Mamoru Shields, but everyone I know just calls me Darien" said the small boy.

Just then, there was a call from the house across the street opposite Darien's. A very gentle, feminine voice called "Serena, honey bunny it's time to come inside now you're dinner is ready"

"Ok Mama, I'm coming" Serena called back and turned to Darien with an apologetic little smile "sorry I gots to go home now but I'll come play tomorrow ok?"

Darien stood with the small snow bunny in his hands and nodded "Ok I'll wait here on the porch for you"

As she ran across the road to her house, and just before going back inside Serena turned and called back "Oh and don't worry about your friend leaving ok, my daddy says that if you meet with a person more then once throughout your life then the fourth time you meet them they'll be with you forever, so you'll see them again ok?"

With that Serena waved as Darien wiped the last of his tears with a hopeful smile on his face.

* * *

><p>At age 8, Darien and Serena were inseparable; they were the best of friends and did everything together. They'd go to and from school on the bus together, have lunch, go on trips and even did homework together. As they grew up they developed in different way with Darien being greatly advanced in all academic subjects as well as being greatly talented in sports.<p>

Serena on the other hand did well in all academics but mathematics and would take a great love in music and arts rather then sports. The only sport she cared anything about was ice-skating. Serena wanted more then anything to be a great figure skater and even joined ice-skating classes on weekends.

Although they differed in some of the things they liked, Serena and Darien had a natural bond that had grown over the time they'd spent together. Darien loved joking around with Serena and often teased her a lot by scaring her when she was waiting for him after sports clubs or putting fake spiders in her lunch box. Serena liked nothing more then to play little tricks on Darien too, like playing blinds mans bluff only to go climb a tree and wait for him to figure out she was gone or placing a whoopee cushion on his chair when he came over for dinner.

Laughing loudly as Serena chased Darien, racing across the street to Darien's house "Ha ha can't beat me, slow poke!" Darien taunted

Serena laughed "No fair you cheated by distracting me with pudding"

"It's not my fault you eat loads piggy," Darien teased as they reached his house, making pig sounds

Serena huffed looking off in the other direction in a snooty manner "I'm not a pig I just like desserts! They're the best part!"

"Aw come on Sere, don't get mad I was just kidding" Darien said with a smile as Serena gave a "Hmph!" in response

Sneaking up behind her, Darien placed his hands on either side of Serena's waist and tickled away as she broke out in laughter and said "Oh come on you know you can't stay mad at me"

"Haha…Darien stop…haha…stop it…hehe haha," Serena laughed as she squirmed about trying to get away from him

Darien smirked as he asked "Huh? Stop what?"

Serena laughed louder "hahahaha…stop…tick…tickling!"

"Oooh! That's what you meant! No not until you stop being mad" Darien smirked

Serena giggled, "Ok…ok ok I'm not mad!"

Darien asked, "You swear?"

"I swear…haha…now…stop…stop it hahaha" Serena laughed in response.

As soon as the tickling stopped a chase began with many shouts from Serena "I'll get you back yet Shields!"

"Yeah? You'll have to catch me first Silvers!" Darien laughed

Throwing herself forward, Serena went crashing into Darien and landed on top of him as they both fell to the ground laughing. Finally after they calmed down a little, Serena asked "Hey Darien? We're best friends right?"

"Of course we are funny bunny! Why?" Darien asked a little confused by her question

Serena asked, "Well we're always going to be best friends with each other right?"

Darien gave Serena a big hug and said "You don't need to worry Sere, no matter what you'll always be important to me, you're my very best friend and it'd really make me sad if one day you go away"

"I'm not going away! But you can't go away from me either" Serena said "Just like daddy said if we meet again more than three times in our lives we'll be together forever"

Darien nodded "Yep and if that happens you have to promise to come find me!"

"You've got to come find me too! Promise" Serena asked holding out her pinkie

Darien wrapped his pinkie around Serena's smaller one and said "Pinkie Promise!"

* * *

><p>On Darien's 10th birthday an unexpected guest arrived to the party. A very excited Mrs Shield came into the living room where, Serena and Darien were playing around on Darien's brand new Xbox 360.<p>

"Oh my gosh Darien you won't believe who's here" Mrs Shields said with a delightful smile

Darien looked towards his mother with a curious look "Who is it Mom?"

Stepping aside Mrs Shields revealed a young boy about their age with sandy blonde hair, blue eyes about the same height as Darien. He was wearing a navy blue shirt with dark jeans and black trainers.

"Hey Darien! Long time no see!" He greeted excitedly as Darien gawked back at him

Darien dropped his controller for his game console and ran over to the boy giving him a brotherly hug "JED! I can't believe you're here! When did you come back?" he exclaimed happily

"I got back yesterday, me and my Mom moved in down the street because she got a more permanent job now, I'm back to stay!" Jed cheered happily shortly joined by Darien "That is so great! Hey Serena! This is the best friend I told you about when we were little! He's come back"

Serena came over to the both of them with a bright smile "Oh wow it's great to meet you Jed, I'm Serena I live across the street from Darien"

"Wow Darien since when did you hang out with girls?" Jed asked with a mocking tone

Darien and Serena both looked at each other then at Jed as Darien asked "Serena's been my friend for ages now, what's wrong with that?"

Jed shook his head "Nothing…but wouldn't it be cooler to hang out with me and my friends I brought them with me" Turning to a small group of boys Jed gestured for them to come forward

There were three other boys, one with dirty blonde hair and green eyes, one with Silver blonde hair and ice blue eyes and the other with chestnut brown hair and green eyes. The each introduced themselves to Darien and Serena.

"I'm Zach," Said the dirty blonde boy

"I'm Malcolm," Said the Silver blonde boy

"And I'm Nathan" Said the boy with chestnut brown hair

Serena smiled at all of them sweetly "It's really great to meet all of you, let's play"

"Great Idea! But there are no dollies and tea sets here! Why don't you go make cakes with Mommy" Jed said snidely

A look of hurt and confusion adorned Serena's little face "Huh?"

Zach stepped in next to Darien and said, "You don't really want to play with a group of boys do you? Won't you get bored little girl?"

Serena was shocked and very hurt by how they were treating her and was about to her cry when she felt someone take her hand. Looking up she saw her older brother Andrew; he was blonde like her but had her dad's emerald green eyes instead of blue ones like hers. He was only two years older then her but he was very mature for the age of 12 and always looked out for his little sister.

"You punks better beat it and stop picking on my sister right now!" Andrew snarled shaking a clenched fist at the boys and they went running to the kitchen.

Darien ran over to Serena and took her other hand trying to get her attention as she was looking at the floor about to burst into tears "Sere I'm sorry they were mean to you, Jed's usually really cool, are you ok?"

Andrew turned to hug his sister "It's ok little bunny, if they pick on you, you come find me I'll deal with them for you"

"I don't… don't get it…why…why would they say…stuff like…like that?" Serena sobbed as a bout of hiccups started up

Andrew looked at his sister as he wiped her tears "Because they're stupid little boys Serena, trust me one day your going to be a beautiful young lady and then the whole world will want to know you and be like you" he said with a smile

"Yeah?" Serena asked, unsure of her brother's words

Darien spoke up now "Yeah they just don't see how cool you are that's all, but I do!"

Serena still didn't seem convinced so in an attempt get her to cheer up Darien squeezed her hand and said "Wait here I'll be right back"

Sitting on the sofa of the lavish living room as she waited with her brother, Serena swung her legs as Darien came running back into the room with a box wrapped in pretty pink bunny printed-paper. Sitting next to Serena, Darien handed the gift to her and said "This was meant for your birthday but I think I should give it to you now, go a head open it"

Serena gasped "What? But my birthday isn't for the next three months"

"I know but just trust me k? Open it come on!" Darien urged her

Peeling away the pretty pink paper, Serena saw two battery-powered phones. One was in the shape of a pink bunny, the other of a black wolf. A little confused by this Serena looked at Darien who smiled and said, "They are special walkie talkies my mom got from a friend, she said they were specially made so that one will call the other and no other walkie talkie so I thought it'd be a fun way to talk when we can't hang out, isn't that cool?"

Serena gave a curious gasp "Really? They can do that?"

Darien nodded with a chuckle "Yep! All you have to do is press the bunny's nose to call with. Now we can talk when ever we want ok?"

Throwing herself into Darien's arms Serena cuddled him tight as a bright smile returned to her face "Thank you Darien! You're the best!"

"I know!" Darien responded encouraging a laugh

* * *

><p>Now you'd think that after the whole walkie-talkie thing that these two would become even closer right? Well sadly you'd be wrong.<p>

At first Serena and Darien talked every night regardless of the day they'd had and would talk for hours. As they grew up, their different interests pulled them towards a different circle of people as Serena joined up to singing, dancing and figure skating lessons as well as other artistic clubs and Darien joined with most sports clubs with Jed and his other friends. Although Serena would make the effort to see Darien or speak to him through their walkie-talkies, it would always turn out that he was hanging out with his 'Guy' friends when they had arranged to meet.

Finally on Serena's 12th birthday, a nice outing at the bowling alley with her brother and friends was arranged. After calling and visiting his house to ask Darien if he would come and getting no luck contacting him, Serena finally got a response to her request

Darien coughed down the phone "Sorry Serena but I'm not feeling too good, I think I'm going to stay home tonight, hope you have a great time though"

"Oh…ok Darien, hope you feel better" Serena said in confusion as she'd seen him yesterday at school and he'd been fine.

That evening her, Andrew who was now 14 and her friends Amy, Lita and Raye walked happily into the bowling alley to get their shoes and lane paid for, when Serena had to run to the bathroom. On her way there Serena bumped into someone "Oof! Oh I'm sorry I didn't see…you"

Right there in front of her was Darien looking the picture of health in black jeans, black t-shirt, black trainers and red over shirt with short sleeves. Jed, Nathan, Zach and Malcolm as well as some girls about their age were there with him.

With all the hope in her heart, Serena smiled and said "Oh Darien are you feeling better? You've come to join us right? Your friends can join us too if they want too"

Jed and the others laughed cruelly as Darien stood looking at the floor not making eye contact with her.

"Sorry but Darien's hanging out with the cool kids today" One girl with auburn hair smirked

"Beryl knock it off!" Darien said quietly

Beryl gave him a mocked innocent look "Why Darien? You don't need that dork! You have us"

Jed grinned maliciously "Yeah there's no way Darien would hang out with you anymore you baby loser"

"Take a hike would ya! He doesn't want to hang out with you anymore!" Zach snarled

Serena looked pleadingly at Darien as tears built up in her eyes "Really Darien? Is that true?"

Darien looked at her with guilt in every fibre of him and was about to say something in response when Beryl rushed forwards and shoved her to the ground "Just get lost you dork"

Darien saw this and moved to help her up but was stopped by Beryl again "Come on Darien! Let's go"

Serena fell to the ground with a yelp as she hit the floor hard; tears ran down her face, as her gaze never left Darien's retreating form. Running over to her brother, Serena threw herself in his arms and cried silently into Andrew's shirt.

* * *

><p>The next day Darien rushed over to Serena's house spewing apologies the minute she answered the door, only to have her shake her head "You know what Darien it doesn't even matter anymore"<p>

Darien gave a confused expression "Huh? What do you mean?"

Giving him a sad smile "It's ok, I get it, you finally got that one friend from all those years ago back with you and now he's cooler than me" she shrugged as she continued to say "I guess I'm just not as good for company anymore right?"

"Serena that's not true it's just that…I mean…" Darien stuttered and Serena just shook her head "It's ok, I've kind of hoped that maybe I could be a good enough friend for you too but don't feel you have to make the effort for my sake because to be honest Darien, if you want to hang out with them instead of me that's fine, I want you to be happy but not if it means at my expense! So please if you don't want to hang out with me or you feel I embarrass you in some way please don't come round here anymore ok? Stop messing me around!"

Darien looked shocked as he tried to stop Serena "Hey? Serena wait a minute"

Serena went inside her house and closed the door on Darien before another word was spoken.

* * *

><p>At the end of the week, Darien got off the bus after returning from school. He spent all day, all week even, looking for Serena to talk with her alone but she hadn't shown up…and when he got home he saw why. There in front of the terrace house across from his own, Darien saw a for sale sign, a moving van and the family car all being loaded, ready to leave.<p>

Not liking where this was going, Darien raced over to the house just as Serena was coming out of the house.

"Serena! Hey! What's going on?" Darien asked fear gripping his heart

Serena turned to him after handing a box in her arms to her mother "Oh hey Darien I thought you had soccer practice on Fridays"

"Stop changing the subject here Sere what's going on?" Darien asked almost panicked

Serena shrugged and said nonchalantly, "We're moving Darien"

Darien couldn't hide the shock and hurt from showing on his young face "Moving? Why?"

He heard hints of sadness in Serena's voice as she said "Daddy has a new job and has to move to another town so we have to go too"

Placing his hands on her shoulders Darien looked Serena in the eyes "Why didn't you…why didn't you tell me about this?"

"Well I…um" Serena struggled to find a reason

Darien felt hurt by her lack of words "I can't believe you wouldn't come and tell me you were leaving"

"It's not like that! I left a letter with your Mom so you'd know once you got home, is it my fault you came home early? You know something Darien sometimes you're so selfish" Serena shot back agitated

Darien snapped, "You running off and not telling me is what I call selfish Serena! You think I'm happy about this?"

"I wouldn't know Darien! I wouldn't know what makes you happy anymore because we don't see each other anymore and you don't care about me that much anyway! So I honestly didn't think it would bother you at all!" Serena yelled back, shocked as her own rash words slipped passed her lips; she slapped a hand over her mouth.

Hurt and overwhelmed Darien said in a sad, quiet tone "Would I be here asking you why you're leaving if I didn't care for you? Would I have spent all day...no all week looking for you, wanting to talk to you if I didn't care?"

"It hasn't been that way recently," Serena said looking away from him only to feel Darien pull her against him and hold her tightly to him.

"I know I've been a bad friend to you, I know I've hurt you but please Serena don't go" Darien whispered to her, hearing her gasp in surprise he continued "Don't you remember what I said four years ago? I said that if ever you should leave it would make me very sad, now it's real and I've never felt so bad in my life"

Serena's heart leapt with hope as she wrapped her small dainty arms around Darien and said, "If that's so, then do you remember the promise we made?"

Darien nodded as he took in every little detail of Serena, the golden blonde of her hair, the smell of sweet strawberries coming from it, the way she felt in his arms. With a single tear tracing down his face Darien vows with a whisper "I'll see you again"

"You mean it?" Serena pulled back from him holding out her pinkie to him "Pinkie promise?"

Wrapping his own slightly bigger pinkie around hers, Darien nodded "Even if I have to find you myself, I will see you again"

A minute later, Darien was looking at Serena as she leaned out the back window of her father's car waving they're silent goodbye and did not take their eyes from each other until the car was out of sight.


	2. Chapter 1

**1,2,3 Be with me **

**Chapter 1**

Four years had passed since then and Darien was now the tender age of 16. He had grown into a very handsome young man with perfect midnight black hair, cobalt eyes that you could get lost in, perfectly toned body and a sun kissed tan. He was any girl's dream and boy did he know it.

Along with the looks, he had irresistible charm and charisma, he was every bit the gentle man and smartly knew how to send them away without being too hurtful.

In his faded denim jeans, white t-shirt and black over shirt with black trainers, Darien walked towards the doors of Crescent Valley High School, bag over his shoulder running a hand through his midnight black locks only for them to settle back over his eyes slightly. He would have any and every girl who passed him swoon madly with just a smile.

As he got to his locker Darien found Jed and Nathan waiting for him. They had both grown into good-looking young men too, both just as toned nicely in the body, handsome faces and dreamy appearance. Jed was in white trainers, a red and white-checkered open shirt with a white t-shirt underneath and black jeans. Nathan now had shoulder length chestnut brown hair and was in a green camouflage t-shirt with grey jeans dog tags around his neck and black lace up trainers.

They greeted Darien with a pat on the back "Mornin man!" Jed smiled "Hey you missed one hell of a party last night! Seriously dude, that sweet ass girl Kat? She was totally in to me"

Nathan laughed "Yeah only coz a certain black haired blue eyed stud wasn't there to steal her from you"

"Come on guys! I don't take all of his girls from him!" Darien said with a somewhat serious expression, which soon turned to a smirk "Just some of the slightly hotter ones"

This earned him a hard punch in the upper arm from Jed, making Nathan laugh hard "Dude! That was good!"

"Hey anyone seen the cheer trio this morning?" Darien asked, looking around guardedly

Jed shook his head "No you're safe, Malcolm said they went off to the girl's bathroom a few minutes ago"

"Good coz the last thing I want right now is another of Beryl's 'Go out with me' episodes" Darien said with a relieved sigh

Nathan laughed "But it won't save you from us ripping you about it!"

Jed put on a puppy eyed expression pulling the front of his T-shirt down to imitate Beryl's dress sense "Oh please Darien baby won't you go out with me? Just rock my world once I promise I'll be bad!"

Darien shuddered as Nathan cracked up laughing to his left "Hahaha Dude that was perfect!" Nathan laughed as he bumped knuckles with Jed who was laughing with him.

"Tell me Jed did you recently get a Hormone implant because you just became a girl!" Darien teased

"Dar don't hate because I'm in touch with my feminine side" Jed laughed

Darien chuckled "Yeah that's what I'm worried about!"

"Hey!" Jed shot back only bring on more laughter from them all.

Walking into their home room class for the morning, the group were sitting in class Darien was sitting at the back of the class as usual with Jed, Nathan, Malcolm and Zach, when Beryl came in with her fellow cheerleaders, Emerald and Anne.

Beryl was now the most popular girl in school, mostly because she was cheerleading captain and her family was loaded to the eyeballs with cash. She had a generously curvaceous figure, was on the taller side of 5'6, long auburn red hair, hazel eyes and flawless pale skin. The only problem with Beryl was this…she was rumoured to be the school's slut. She was wearing a black mini skirt that was way too small, a baby T vest top that was showing a lot of cleavage and knee high black boots with fishnet stockings underneath. Her friends Anne and Emerald were of a similar physique to Beryl but were slightly shorter in height and where as Beryl had auburn red hair, Emerald had long bright green hair, green eyes, a bright green mini skirt and with matching top and jacket...safe to say she had a thing for bright green. Anne had chestnut brown hair, with brown eyes and wore a denim mini skirt with a white vest top and denim jacket.

Many rumours and scandalous stories went around about Beryl and very few of them weren't untrue.

Walking seductively over to Darien, Beryl pushed Jed out of the seat next to Darien and sat, almost too close to Darien as she wrapped her snake like arms around him "Hey baby, miss me?"

"Back off will ya Beryl! Like I've said before I don't want to know!" Darien stressed throwing her off of him

Beryl gave the classic baby pout look the on Jed mimicked earlier "But Darien baby we're meant to be together, I know I could give you what you want so please give me a chance huh?"

"Look you're just not my type!" Darien said agitatedly

Beryl scoffed "Oh for God sake's Darien girl is your type, I've seen you date a number of the little girl losers in this school...so why not give a real woman a try...I swear I'll make it fun for you" she purred in his ear as she pulled on his collar

Shivering in disgust, Darien shoved Beryl away "for the last time Beryl! No means no! Leave me alone…and give Jed his seat back!"

Beryl gave an audible 'Hmph!' as she stormed off to sit with her friends on the other side of the classroom

Down the front of the class Darien saw Serena's old friends Raye, Lita and Amy sitting chatting to each other about something. They had definitely grown into the cutest girls at Crescent Valley High.

Raye was now a graceful 5'4, with perfectly proportioned curves in the right places, long black hair with purple high lights that suited her well, purple eyes and sun kissed tanned skin. Raye was wearing a red sundress, with quaint little red dolly shoes and a rose hairpin. She had grown into a fiery passionate young woman who stood up for all she believed in, that and she was as stubborn as an ox. When Darien tried asking Raye where Serena had moved to she basically told him that a jerk like him didn't need that information. Jed hated to admit it but he loved her fiery attitude.

Amy was the smart one of the group and a subtle, gentle beauty at that. Zach described her as the goddess of all geniuses. She was about 5'3 and had short blue hair, ocean blue eyes and dressed in a pretty water patterned tailor shirt and white pleated skirt with blue ballet style flats.

Lita had grown to a stunning 5'8 and was pure model material with just the right amount of attitude, she had chestnut brown hair, with forest green eyes, and sun kissed skin. She was wearing a green long sleeved t-shirt with a tan coloured waist cost and matching jeans that clung to her tall slender legs. Nathan couldn't help but stare whenever she was in the room.

Malcolm cleared his throat to draw his friend's attention "Looks like we've got a group of pervs in the classroom"

Malcolm laughed as all three of them punched him in the upper arms. Nathan sighed as he said "You know what it would rock if Lita would go out with me, I'd definitely show her a good time"

"Forget it dude, it's the cutie with the blue hair is the one I want" Zach sighed contentedly

"Funny how only a few years ago you guys tormented those girls like crazy and now you're expecting a date? This should end well" Malcolm turned to Darien with an amused smirk "Anyone you got your eye on then stud?"

"Nah! I don't know what it is but the girls at this school just don't seem good enough, I can't stay interested for longer than 5 minutes" Darien huffed agitatedly

"What? Did I just hear the D man say he's bored of girls?" Zach asked turning his attention back on them.

Nathan and Jed both gasped clinging to each other's hands and said in a frightened tone "Our D Man is going gay?"

Darien rolled his eyes and smacked both of them upside the head "No you idiots! I just need some fresh meat that's all"

"Well there's a cheer off against some academy school girls coming this afternoon" Nathan suggested "Maybe we can check it out and do a little 'Window shopping'"

"Dude that is the best idea you've come up with all week" Jed laughed high fiving Nathan as they teacher came in "Alright class settle down please"

Beryl smirked as she glanced back at Darien who was hard at work on their class assignment as she thought "_You wait Darien, I'm gonna show you what cheerleaders can really do"_

* * *

><p>So that afternoon Darien, Jed, Nathan, Zach and Malcolm all sat watching the girls from their school cheerleading routine against the only other school near Crescent Valley. Darien didn't know the name of the school but he did know that it was a very prestigious school where the students all wore posh uniforms and most students who attended there went on to the best colleges and even became famous.<p>

Jed, Nathan, Malcolm and Zach all gagged as they saw Beryl, the cheer captain for their team pull off a really slutty and downright dangerous flip and splits move. After landing back on her feet, she turned and winked over her shoulder in Darien's direction who hung his head in his hands and groaned with displeasure "Dude tell me that wasn't aimed at me"

"I could tell you Dar but lying only makes it hurt more" Jed winced as yet another slutty and dangerous move took place.

Zach shook his head "Seriously there are rules against that kind move isn't there"

"Yeah but you can bet Beryl found any and all ways of 'bending' rules" Nathan smirked earning a smack upside the head from Malcolm and a high five from Jed.

After yet another sickeningly flirtatious wink Darien had taken about as much as he could and stood from his seat in the stand "Man I can't take this gag fest anymore! I'm goin to get some air be back in a sec"

"Ok dude don't worry we'll send ya a message when the horror is over!" Nathan laughed

Shaking his head, Darien headed down to the football pitch outside the doors to the right of the gymnasium. The sky was clear and bright and the stands around the pitch were clear of everyone and anyone. Walking amongst the stands, Darien thought back to a particular day in his early childhood.

_Flashback_

_It was a beautiful sunny day and the sky above was clear and bright as little six year old Darien Shields came running out of his house dressed in a football jersey jeans a red baseball cap and trainers. Racing across the street he started knocking heavily on the door, Darien's eyes lit up with delight when the door opened to reveal his best friend in a pretty pink t-shirt and denim dungarees her hair tied up in her signature golden bunny ear pigtails._

"_Hey Serena you ready to go yet?" Darien asked excitedly_

_Nodding enthusiastically Serena took Darien's hand and followed along happily as Darien guided her over to his Dad's car waving bye bye to her mother and brother. All sitting comfortably with their seat belts fastened, Serena and Darien smiled excitedly playing travelling games like car colour football and I-Spy and singing songs. Darien's dad soon parked the car and said to them excitedly "Here we go Kids let go watch some really football!"_

_Sadly when they got inside the grounds the game had been cancelled and the kids were so disappointed that the kindly old manager offered them a free tour of the grounds for their trouble. Soon they were sitting in the stands having the picnic lunch that Darien's dad had packed. Serena taking a small football out of Darien's backpack, Serena threw the ball as high as she could and laughed "Last one to catch it is a rotten egg!"_

_So they played on stands of Crescent Valley football grounds and played catch until dusk that evening...which ended in a long telling off for Darien's dad!_

_End of Flashback_

A long sigh escaped his lips as Darien relived some of his childhood memories with the one person he had missed for the last four years. Although Darien was made out to be one of the biggest players in school, he actually was a pretty decent guy when it came to being honest with a girl. Whenever a girl confessed he would tell her that he was flattered by her and that he would love to hang out as friends but he wasn't looking to date anyone just yet. It was partly true but it was also because in the four years since she had left, Darien had been thinking of no other girl than Serena Silvers, that bright, warm, fun loving little ray of sunshine that he made the mistake of leaving behind as a young boy.

Just as he was about to slip off into another of his Serena induced memories, Darien felt a heavy hand slam down onto his shoulder.

"Arggh! What the...?" Darien exclaimed in shock as he turned to see Malcolm looking back at him with a mischievous grin "Got ya Dar!"

Giving Malcolm a good punch in the arm as he sat down Darien scowled "Dude you scared the hell out of me! I thought you were Beryl"

"Ok...Ouch!" Malcolm said with sham hurt on his face

Darien raised a cynical eyebrow as he laughed "Don't act like your hurt you brought that one on yourself!"

"I guess so but dude don't compare me to that harpy" Malcolm laughed as he playfully punched Darien in the arm "You've been out here a while Darien, something wrong?"

Shaking his head, Darien thought on it for a moment before Malcolm spoke up "You're thinking about that blonde again aren't you?"

"Huh?" Darien exclaimed in confusion

Malcolm shrugged "You know who I mean dude, the little blonde that use to live in your neighbourhood, she was kind of close to you wasn't she?"

Darien clocked on to who Malcolm was talking about "Oh you mean Serena? Yeah we were close, in fact we were best friends for years before Jed came back and introduced me to all of you but not long after that things changed and I became so wrapped up in being cool and hanging with you guys I ended up hurting one of my favourite people in the world"

"I think me, Jed and the guys are half to blame for that, we sure did love to pick on that girl...and her friends" Malcolm admitted "I didn't see how much she meant to you until that week after she left, you walked around in a weird kind of dazed mood for days"

Malcolm shook his head with a smile "I still remember you harassing Raye and her friends to tell you where Serena was but they just blanked you all day or just plain told you to get lost"

"Yeah and when I tried to intimidate Lita into telling me why Serena wasn't in school that day she kneed me in the balls" Darien winced

Malcolm laughed at the memory of Darien doubled over in pain with his hands between his legs. "You don't know this but I was...actually watching you the whole week"

"What? You mean you stalked me?" Darien laughed

Malcolm shook his head "No Man I was watching you...because you were really down in the mouth and you know...I wanted to make sure you were ok"

Darien looked at his friend with new found respect as Malcolm explained "I knew after that whole bowling alley scenario how much you cared for her just by looking at your face that and I hated what Jed and the others said to her especially after Beryl showed up out of nowhere and decided for herself she was hanging out with us, if anything Serena was being really cool to us, in fact she was always cool to us"

"Yeah Serena was always like that with everyone she met, always so warm and welcoming, with her it was always about making new friends even with people she didn't know well" Darien smiled warmly "one time when we were little, we were playing in the street and she saw our old neighbour Mrs Hepburn sitting on the rocking chair of her porch by herself just staring off into space, Serena felt bad about having fun when Mrs Hepburn was lonely so she dropped the ball we were playing with, ran over to Mrs Hepburn and just sat talking to her for hours on end smiling and telling random stories about her week...I think it's the first time I ever saw the poor old gal smile in the years we knew her"

Malcolm smiled and said "Serena sounds cooler than we thought she was"

"Dude you have no idea, she's able to brighten up any day just by being near you and I drove her away all because I was to scared that you, Jed and the others wouldn't want me around if I hung out with her" Darien shook his head and laughed "The stupid things we do as kids"

"Yeah does make you want to go back and smack yourself really doesn't it?" Malcolm said causing Darien to laugh. They sat and bantered with each other about sports and other stuff and Darien commented "I wonder whether Serena's changed at all since we last saw each other"

Little did he know he was about to find out.


	3. Chapter 2

**1,2,3 Be With Me**

**Chapter 2**

Finally getting home after a long afternoon at school, Darien walked through his house to find his mother sitting with her back to him as he came through the dining room door. Feeling mischievous, Darien snuck up to his mother's chair, raised his arms and just as he was about to let out a loud shout out of nowhere he heard her say "Try it and I'll kill you"

Feeling a little disappointed at getting caught out by his Mom, Darien walked around the small round wooden dining table and asked "How d'you know it was me?" as he sat down and saw his mother reading through a newspaper

"Because I'm your Mom and Mom's know everything!" came the quick and smart answer from Mrs Shields "Now I'm glad you came home on time because you're father and I have plans for us all to go away for the weekend"

Darien groaned unpleasantly as he thought up an excuse "Ugh! Mom you know I'd love to but I have this really...important...assignment! It's for physics on Monday and I kinda need to go to Je..."

Mrs Shields merely held up her hand whilst still reading her paper and said in a cool manner "Tell it to the hand Darien, no excuses! You are coming out with us this weekend"

"Oh come on Mom! If it's another one of Dad's boring work conventions I think I'll die of boredom!" Darien groaned inwardly "Do I get to take my car at least?"

His mother wore a smile on her face that said she knew where they were going and wasn't about to give him any details "Nope! Sorry son looks like you're stuck with us and as for where we're going you'll just have to wait and see but if it's any consolation you're might see a friend or two whilst we're there"

This had him curious, after being instructed by his Mom to go and pack, Darien dragged his school bag up stairs and dumped it in his closet before looking out clothes and throwing them in the small suitcase that had been placed at the bottom of his bed.

* * *

><p>Not too long after he'd finished packing Darien closed his suitcase and was about to put his suitcase by the back door when he saw his mother and father greeting a very familiar looking woman at the door that he hadn't seen in four years. Turning to face him a warm, motherly smile graced her ethereal features as she exclaimed happily "Darien!"<p>

Darien looked utterly surprised as the fair and gentle woman drew him into her arms for a warm embrace "My goodness, dear boy you have grown to be such a handsome young man!"

"Mrs Silvers? Is that really you?" Darien asked, not believing the fact that after four years the woman he had once seen as a second mother hadn't aged at all. She had, silver blonde hair, the same skin, posture and face as Serena but the eyes were a lovely soft lavender with silver flecks in them as they shone with warmth and laughter "Of course my darling boy, I know it's been a while since you last saw me, you do remember me don't you?"

Darien smiled excitedly "Of course I remember! What are you doing here? Are you and you're family ok? Are you moving back here?"

Mrs Silvers shook her head "No my dear boy we're not I've merely come to escort you to lodgings from the weekend"

"Huh?" Darien asked

"Maria are you and Damien keeping him in the dark about this?" Mrs Silvers asked Darien's mother

She laughed "No...Well maybe a little...but come on Serenity he's so cute when he's surprised" she cooed as she pinched Darien's cheeks

"Mom cut it out" Darien muttered impatiently and then turning with a smile to Mrs Silvers asked "Um where is it we're staying this weekend?

"You'll be staying in our guest house" Serenity smiled "You're coming to stay with us for the weekend"

Darien turned to his mother and asked "But how come Mrs Silvers is coming to pick us up? Where's dad?"

"Oh honey he got caught up with last minute work again but don't worry he's going to meet us there" Maria smiled for her son and then started ushering him towards the door "Now let's go if we get back now we can all have a nice catch up over dinner"

Maria and Serenity exchanged a cheeky wink as they went out of the door and drove off towards the neighbouring town.

* * *

><p>Finally after an hour's drive, Darien looked out the window to see that they had pulled up outside a very picturesque little house, with a white picket fence around the outside and lovely flowerbeds filled with white roses and delicate lilies. There was a parking garage on the left side with a guest house conversion above it.<p>

As they pulled up in front of the garage, the front door to the house opened and there stood, Richard Silvers, the one man other than his father that Darien always respected and looked up too. He was tall with golden blonde hair, green eyes and sun kissed tan, dressed in a smart white shirt with the collar button undone, navy blue trousers and black shoes. Descending the two steps at the base of the front door, Richard walked over to meet everyone at the car.

"Hello Maria, my dear how wonderful to see you" Richard greeted happily as he took Maria into his arms in a friendly and welcoming embrace

Maria chuckled "Richard, it's been such a long time! How are you?"

"I am fantastic! Got a great job, wonderful family and did you know I'm married to a Hottie! Seriously Maria I don't know if you know her but she is...wow...she's like a goddess honestly!" Richard winked as Maria laughed

Serenity came up behind him and gave him a sideways glance with a smile as she asked "I wonder who this Hottie could be?"

Turning instantly, Richard wrapped his arms tightly around Serenity and exclaimed with starry eyes "Serenity Silvers! My Goddess! You're my number one fantasy girl honey!"

"Oh Richard darling you flatter me" Serenity cuddled back with a love filled sigh starry eyes of her own

Maria laughed at her loved up friends "Something's never change"

"No they don't with us" Richard chuckled "So how are things back in Crescent Valley? Didn't young Darien come along with you?"

Just as his name was mentioned, Darien threw his car door shut and walked over to the other adult by the garage door "Hey Mr Silvers good to see you again sir"

"Darien?" Richard exclaimed in surprise "Good Heavens my boy! Look at how much you've grown up! How old are you now?"

"16 darling, don't you remember he's the same age as our little bunny is now" Serenity smiled

Richard grinned "16 eh? Grown to be quite a strapping young man there Darien, bet you win over all the girls don't ya boy!"

Darien laughed "I've had luck with a few"

"Ha ha! That's my boy!" Richard laughed heartily as he patted Darien on the back "Hook a good one ok? Not all of em as cool as your Mom or as lovely my Serenity, you got to go for the special ones son don't go for just any girl you got it?"

Darien nodded with a smile "Yes sir, I'll do my best"

Maria shook her head with a chuckled as she turned to Serenity and asked "And how are Andrew and your little Serena doing? Have they changed at all?"

"Oh my dear I feel older every time I look at them" Serenity sighed "My babies are all grown up and I can't stop them"

"Too true" Richard sighed with a look of pride on his face as they all moved to sit inside the house "Andrew's grown to be a wonderful young man with such high prospects, he's even at college now. He's found himself a lovely young lady friend and fits into the family just fine"

"I swear I cried for a week when he left" Serenity sniffled "I can't imagine what it's going to be like when Serena's turn comes"

Finally sitting in the living room of the Silvers home, Darien listened intently as they started talking about Serena "What's Serena been up to at the moment? Anything life changing happen yet?" Maria asked

Serenity smiled excitedly "Well she's been doing well at school and does quite a lot of activities and is quite a little social queen bee now, Serena doesn't change really still our bright, happy, loving little bunny, in fact why don't I call her down here? She should be upstairs; she'll be so excited to see you Darien"

Before she could call up the stairs, Richard came in from the kitchen with a tray full of tea and coffee. He chuckled "Sorry honey looks like Serena pulled a fast one while you were out"

Serenity sighed in disappointment "She's gone again! Where did she go?"

"Take a wild guess honey" Richard chuckled as Serenity shook her head and pressed the play button on their answering machine.

A sweet and happy voice reached Darien's ears after the beep "Hi Mom and Dad just went down to the Ice Rink for some last minute practice with the team for next week. They invited me out to dinner afterwards I hope that's ok, I'm sorry I won't be there to greet you're guests but I'll try not to be too late home. I have a door key and money from my work money jar got to go love you guys bye!"

Serenity smiled "Well I had hoped she would wait and say hello before going off to the ice rink again but never mind I guess"

"Does Serena play ice hockey now?" Darien asked, earning a good chuckled from the adults around him

His Mom laughed "Sweetie don't you remember? Serena's been figure skating since she was 11 around the same time you started all those sports clubs with Jed and the boys"

"And she's been married to the ice rink ever since" Serenity laughed "I don't remember a time when Serena didn't go ice skating"

"Ah but it's all worth it to see Serena pursuing one of her biggest dreams, I mean I never thought I'd grow to love dancing on ice but when Serena gets going...Man I don't think I've ever been so proud of my little girl" Richard smiled with pride for his daughter

Serenity gushed "and the costumes they have her wear are just beautiful, I've never seen anything like it, ah like a little ice dancing princess"

"That sounds amazing! I hope we get to see her perform this weekend" Maria gushed

Serenity pulled out a small picture album from the drawer under the coffee table "I got some pictures and videos from her recent competitions we can watch later"

Darien watched his mother tear up at just the first page as she gushed "Oh my Gosh! Serenity, Oh she's grown up to be so beautiful she looks just like you!"

"I know my little carbon copy!" Serenity gushed as she sat on the arm next to Maria looking over the photographs

Leaning closer to Darien, his mother tilted the page towards him and smiled "Take a look Darien isn't she so grown up now?"

Glancing over, Darien couldn't help but stare in awe as he looked upon the picture of a beautiful slender young woman, with golden blonde hair tied up in a graceful bun with two golden braids wrapped around it as a delicate diamante hair piece was pinned at the front like a tiara. She was wearing a stunning white and gold sequined halter neck design costume with golden stars trailing from the top right of her chest down to the left hips. Small stars were drawn in golden make up just at the edges of her eyes with long beautiful eyes lashes and black eye liner framing those ever familiar cerulean blue eyes. Her skin as pale as fine porcelain, standing in a graceful pose in clean white ice skates.

Darien continued to gaze in awe as he looked at the picture of the girl he had once known as his childhood friend. He felt an enormous guilt grow inside his heart as for the first time since she left, Darien realised that although he knew Serena and had fond memories of her, he didn't really know much about her life from when they were growing up, mainly because...being cool was too important.

"So Serena's good at this figure skating thing?" Darien asked disappointed to learn there was something he didn't know about Serena's childhood years

"Oh Darien, Serena's incredible" Richard praised "I mean she's been to all the local recitals and won every competition that's come up so far"

A confused look maimed, Maria and Serenity's faces as Maria said "I'm sure Serena told you about her first competition, didn't she Darien?"

Darien thought it over in his head when the memory of that day played over in his head.

_Flashback_

_That weekend Darien had promised the boys he'd go on a camping trip with them and was getting his stuff ready to go looking out his best rough clothes and torch for telling ghost stories when all of a sudden he heard a static sound coming from the wolf shaped walkie talkie that was over on his desk and the sweet ever familiar voice of his friend and neighbour. _

_"Hey Darien it's me Serena! How have you been? I feel like I haven't seen you in a while, I hope you're doing ok and having fun with your friends"_

_There was a brief pause as Darien approached the small walkie talkie just listening to see if she talked again and as expected she did "I um I got entered into a figure skating competition this weekend, it's my first real competition which is kind of exciting but scary, I'm a little nervous... uh I was hoping maybe you would like to come along...maybe cheer me on a little...I know you have a lot going on with Jed and your other friends, they can come too if you want them too I don't mind...but it would really mean a lot if you could come"_

_Darien felt his heart tighten with anxiety as he battled with himself over choosing Serena or Jed and the guys. Jed won in the end and just as Darien was about to pick up the walkie talkie and give Serena an excuse she spoke again "Actually it doesn't matter, you and you're friends probably have something way more fun in mind then watching my girly ice skating huh? He he never mind Night Darien"_

_Sitting on his bed, staring at the wolf walkie talkie, Darien spent most of the night filled with an enormous sense of guilt and in the morning ran from his guilt by going camping with his friends_

_End of flashback_

"Yeah she told me about it, but I went camping with Jed and the guys that weekend so I didn't go" Darien said with a guilty look

Looking to each other, Richard, Serenity and Maria all shared something of a knowing smile with each other before Richard rose from his chair and said "Well why don't we get something to eat, I cooked up something for when you guys arrived I assumed you'd be hungry"

"Ah starving...Serenity can I borrow your husband for a week or two? He needs to show Damien what it means to cook for his wife" Maria laughed

Serenity laughed "Be my guest"

Not long before they entered the kitchen, Darien's dad arrived and they sat down to dinner with years' worth of catching up and plenty of idle banter as Darien anticipated his first meeting with Serena in four years.


	4. Chapter 3

**1,2,3 Be With Me**

**Chapter 3**

"Oh My Gosh! Serena you were awesome! We are so going to win next week!" The blonde next to her in her passenger's seat said

"ha ha Mina you don't know that yet beside from what Coach Kitty said the guys coming next week are the best in the country" Serena said as she drove towards her cousin's house in her silver Volkswagen new beetle with a black soft top roof

Mina smirked "and by next week everyone will be saying 'They were the best' come on this is going to be great we've got this in the bag...that and I got a text from Raye earlier they're coming to the festival this weekend so we can hang out and have one big sleepover at my place!"

Serena cheered "I'm totally up for that, my mom and dad have some friends of theirs staying over and I'm pretty sure as nice as they will be I will get bored and it won't be pretty"

"Then it's settled you will get permission to stay and if not you will sneak out once their asleep" Mina said with mischievous wink

Serena laughed as Mina gasped and turned up the radio as '1000 miles' by Vanessa Carlton came on the radio "Oh it's the song from white chicks! We gotta do the dance"

"Oh my God" Serena laughed as Mina laughed too saying "No come on we said every time, ready?"

So for throughout the whole song, Serena and Mina danced out the song using little hand gestures and laughing the whole time.

Finally after dropping Mina at home and promising about fifty times that she would come to her cousin's sleepover, Serena finally drove home and pulled into her drive way parking behind her mother's car.

Checking the time, Serena physically winced as she saw the digits on her little silver bunny wristwatch flash 11:30pm. "_Uh oh! Definitely later then I should have been, maybe I can sneak up to my room without anyone noticing"_

Locking her car and unlocking the door as soundlessly as she could, Serena quietly closed the front door and quickly looked around to see if there was any sign of movement or sound coming from anywhere. There was a dim light coming from the kitchen. Thinking her mom had left it on for her coming in, Serena snuck over to the kitchen to get a drink of juice from the fridge. Just as Serena's fingers closed around the handle a deep masculine voice came from behind her "Aha busted!"

Startled by the sudden voice, Serena spun round to find, her dad and another man with black hair and a moustache with deep brown eyes dressed in a smart business shirt and trousers sitting at the breakfast bar in the middle of the kitchen with two glasses of scotch in front of them.

Sighing in relief, Serena giggled "Daddy you startled me"

Her dad chuckled as she hugged him "Sorry honey but seeing as you're wearing those shoes" he gestured to her high heeled knee high suede boots "It's kind of hard not to hear you coming"

Rolling her eyes Serena groaned inwardly "I knew I should have taken my boots off in the car"

The man opposite, her father chuckled "Still the same little mischief maker I see Richard"

"Yep some things never change Damien" Richard laughed

Serena gasped and did a double take on her father's guest. There sitting looking at her was none other than Damien Shields, Darien's father or as she referred to him Uncle Damien "Hey there little lady remember me?"

Giving a bright smile Serena walked around the table and embraced the man she had considered a second father throughout her childhood "Oh My Gosh Uncle Damien!"

"Ha ha still the same little ray of sunshine as before" Damien laughed as he pulled back holding Serena at arm's length "And look at you, you've gotten so beautiful, you look so much like your mother, how have you grown up so much"

Serena giggled "Yeah I get told I look like mom a lot!" she hugged him again and said happily "Oh it's so good to see you how long are you staying here for?"

"Well only for the weekend sadly Sweetie, I got to get back on time for work on Monday" Damien smiled warmly "But we're here for that little festival that I've heard so much about"

Serena's eyes shone with excitement "You're coming to the St Artemis Festival?"

"We most certainly are I hear there is some really good entertainment there this weekend" Damien winked at her

Richard laughed "So there will be no sneaking out over the weekend then?"

"No...Well there was something I wanted to ask you about" Serena said putting on a puppy dog expression.

"Uh oh I should have seen this one coming" Richard chuckled

Serena looked straight at her dad with big shining blue puppy dog eyes "Please can I stay at Mina's Saturday night Dad?"

Richard put his hand to his chin in a thinking gesture "hmm? Well I don't know that cousin of yours is a mischievous little thing...we do have guests and...I know Aunt Maria is dying to see you"

"I'll stick around all day tomorrow up until I have to meet the girls" Serena threw in quickly "Please daddy, Raye. Lita and Amy are coming and I haven't seen them in sooo long"

Again Richard taunted his daughter by thinking about it. Serena moved to the seat next to her dad resting her head on his shoulder and going "Please Daddy please"

"Aw ok! You can go but you got to let you mom know, spend the whole day tomorrow with us and don't wear those boots" Richard chuckled "You know I hate those things on you"

Serena threw her arms around her father and started kissing his face "Thank you! Dad you are my number one man! I love you"

After the chuckling phase was over and the juice from the fridge long forgotten about, Serena gave a tired sigh "Well I am quite tired from practice today so I'm going to try and sneak past mom's room and go to bed he he"

"Might want to take those boots off then honey" Richard laughed as Damien chuckled with him

Rolling her eyes, Serena unzipped her boots and pulled them off and Damien laughed to see that she was just as petite as she always had been. Earning a good chuckle from them both for her boots stunt, "there no more boots, now I'm going to bed, good night dad, night Uncle Damien" Serena hugged her dad and Damien.

Damien squeezed his arms tight making her giggled as he said "Good night beautiful!

With that Serena disappeared out of the kitchen and headed up the stairs to her room.

* * *

><p>A little later that night, Serena felt restless and couldn't really relax enough to sleep. Sighing in defeat, Serena sat up in bed her long hair flowing down her back in long locks of golden curls as she slipped out of her four poster princess style bed into her favourite white slippers covered in silver stars. Reaching for her dressing Serena threw it on as she made her way to the stairs making her way down towards the kitchen as she thought "<em>Maybe some warm cocoa will help me sleep better"<em>

Finally coming up to the kitchen, Serena noticed a soft light in the kitchen. Thinking it would be her dad and Mr Shields still drinking, Serena rolled her eyes and marched into the kitchen ready to send them to bed.

Who she saw instead was a handsome young man of 16, wearing nothing but his pyjama bottoms and navy blue slippers leaving his well toned and perfectly tanned chest on display, his midnight black hair slightly messed up from sleeping and his eyes although tired we still the same cobalt blue eyes that she remembered gazing back at her with a surprised stare as he held a glass pitcher of milk in his hand next to the open refrigerator.

The surprised gaze softened to an admiring and yet nervous gaze as he said in a soft voice "Serena"

There standing in her kitchen, staring back at her with silent anticipation was "Darien?"


	5. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4**

Soft footsteps caught Darien's attention as he looked up from the small pitcher of milk to find a picture of petite and slender perfection standing in the kitchen doorway. Long gold curls flowed gracefully over her back to just under the knees, white full length dressing gown clinging to her delicate curves with slippers of pure white and silver little stars around the toes. Finally Darien eyes travelled back up to meet the same angelic face as he'd seen in photographs just a few hours ago but found the photographs didn't do her justice. Finally his gaze connected with hers as the most perfect pair of crystal cerulean blue eyes looked back at him with pure astonishment.

Feeling his heart racing with anticipation Darien looked down at the milk pitcher in his hand as he spoke in a soft, almost nervous tone "Um...Did I...wake you?"

Shaking out of her surprised stare, Serena said softly "Uh no...not...not at all...I had trouble sleeping so...just came to get a drink"

Darien gestured to the milk pitcher in his hand and said "Likewise"

There was something of an awkward silence before they both said simultaneously "I just wanted..."

"You really..." they both said together again

Both of them fell silent as they took the time to gather their nerves and took a deep breath before gazing at each other and laughed softly.

Serena walked further into the kitchen and took two big mugs from the cupboard above the coffee counter and asked "Want to have some Cocoa?"

Smiling, Darien nodded and placed milk pitcher on the coffee counter before closing the fridge and said "yeah that'd be great"

They shared a short and comfortable silence as Serena prepared warm cocoa for the two of them. Darien couldn't help but notice how graceful she had become, every move of Serena's hand, every light step and ever turn of the head just oozed with elegance and poise.

Serena couldn't help but catch him staring and they both quickly turned their heads with a light shade of pink adorning their faces. Finally placing a warm mug of steaming hot cocoa in front of Darien, Serena sat at the breakfast bar with Darien and took a few short sips as they fell back into the same comfortable silence.

Darien rolled his eyes at his own hesitation "_Come on you've thought of this day since you were 12 years old and now you're speechless! Say something! Anything!"_

Serena had her own little conscience nagging at her "_come on Serena you're usually the first to start any conversation and now's the time you choose to shut up! Speak damn it!"_

Looking to each other they smiled sharing something a nervous laugh with each other before Serena said "Forgive me for saying this but I was surprised to see you here, when Mom and Dad usually have friends stay its usually an odd couple from work or something"

"Yeah I got that impression from my parents too, they just disguise the words 'Dad's work and family conferences' with 'we're going away for the weekend' usually means we're going to sit and fake smile for his boss until we can go home again" Darien chuckled with Serena as he continued "So it was really a surprise when your mom showed up to bring us here"

Serena looked down at her cocoa with a hopeful expression "a good surprise?"

Darien looked to Serena and with a soft and genuinely happy smile nodded "yeah a really good one"

Smiling bashfully, Serena took a sip of her cocoa to hide a blush as Darien asked "So you tried to sneak in earlier huh?"

Serena smirked "even you saw that?"

Darien merely nodded and chuckled "Should've taken the boots off in the car"

"I know" Serena sighed in defeat "but then I'd get gravel from the driveway hurting my feet and you'd still hear me coming"

Darien couldn't help but laugh as he picture Serena trying to sneak in to her house in bare feet. The sound of Serena's sweet laugh drew his attention and he couldn't help but blush at the sight of her wonderful smile.

Serena smiled warmly as she giggled "It's weird, you seem so different to me now"

"Is that good different or bad different?" Darien asked with a somewhat worried expression

Serena smiled "Good different, you've grown a lot, especially in height, not so scrawny anymore huh?"

"Scrawny?" Darien exclaimed in sham shock

Serena nodded "Definitely scrawny!"

"Ok ouch!" Darien exclaimed as he gave her another sham shocked look as Serena laughed "But it was a cute scrawny really"

"Damage is done Serena, don't try and sugar coat it now" Darien said as he turned away with a mock hurt expression but failed to hide the smirk when she started laughing again

After calming down a little, Serena turned to Darien with sincerity and said "But seriously you really do look good"

"Ha ha well thanks you look pretty good yourself" Darien chuckled "although good is kind of a little mild way to put it"

Blushing furiously, Serena took their now empty cups and placed them in the dishwasher. Just as she came back over to him, a little yawn escaped her as Serena covered her mouth to stifle it and said "Oh my looks like that cocoa did the trick, better head back up to bed huh?"

"Yeah I guess so" Darien said with a soft smile and walked over to Serena taking a soft strand of her golden curls into his hand as he let it slip through his fingers "So I'll see you in the morning?"

Serena nodded slightly tucking her hair behind her ear suddenly a little too aware of how close Darien was. Smiling politely Serena gave a little wave and whispered softly "Good night Darien, hope you sleep well"

"Good night Serena" Darien smiled, a little disappointed he didn't get the same warm reception his father had gotten but was determined to work on that over the weekend.

* * *

><p>The next morning Serena was had just turned off her nuisance of an alarm, only to then be woken up by a long slobbery tongue licking her face. Giggling slightly Serena batted her hands at a gorgeous pure white, husky dog that kept licking Serena in the face "Cut it out Sammy, no morning run today"<p>

Not taking no for an answer, the dog grumbled as he took one corner of her duvet in his teeth and pulled it straight off of Serena to the floor before returning to try and pull her out of bed too before she laughed "Ok ok you win, man no wonder Andrew picked you for his dog you're just as pushy as he is ha ha"

Up washed and changed into her light pink track suit and white trainers, Serena stuck her hair up into two French braids and raced down stairs with Sammy just ahead of her, left a note for her mom when she got up and the grabbed a dog toy of Sammy's from his bed by the back door in the kitchen, turned to the dog and asked "Shall we stop and play on the way back today?"

Giving a cute little whimper and licking Serena's face again making her laugh. Heading back through the living room towards the front door, Serena left her note by the answering machine when sudden a voice came from behind her "Hey"

Startled again by the sudden appearance, Serena turned to find Darien standing in the small corridor that led to the guest house stairs, he was leaning against the wall in the same PJ bottoms and slipper with a Stud t-shirt on. Even with his hair slightly ruffled from sleep, Darien looked amazing as he stood smirking at Serena, she smiled politely back "Morning Darien, I'm sorry I didn't wake you did I?"

Darien shook his head lightly and walked slowly over to her "No I was awake anyway; I was coming down to the kitchen to make some coffee"

He'd actually heard her walking around down stairs and rushed out of bed to meet her but he wasn't about to tell her that. Shrugging off his thought's Darien smirked "so where are you sneaking off too at 7am?"

"It's not sneaking" Serena said defensively with a smirk "I'm going on my usual morning run with Sammy"

"Who's Sammy?" Darien asked confused, then felt a cold wet nose nuzzling against his hand. He looked down to find a stunning white husky dog looking up at him with his tongue hanging out.

Darien laughed as he knelt and started petting the dog "Oh so you're Sammy! Hey there dude! Awesome dog! When did you guys get him?"

"Shortly after moving here, Andrew got him as a family pet but Sammy always did love Andrew more" Serena laughed putting the dog's leash on his collar

Tugging on the dog's leash, Serena smiled "Well I better take him out before he gets antsy; I think there's still some coffee in the pot from last night so..."

"Hey, would you mind... if I came along with you" Darien asked rubbing the back of his head, with nervous anticipation.

Serena turned to look at Darien in surprise "Um...you want to come for a run? With me?"

"Well...yeah" Darien smiled "I'll be quick, I'll be five minutes tops"

"Uh, ok, sure" Serena said unsurely

Darien couldn't help but smile "Great! I'll be right back!"

Rushing up the stairs to get changed, Darien was determined to make the most out of his time with Serena and get a little closer to her again.

* * *

><p>Within the next few minutes Darien was back down the stairs in some jogging shorts, black trainers, white vest top and black Addidas track suit top. They set out at a slow pace, fast enough for them to burn some calories but slow enough for the dog to keep up with them.<p>

"So what's new with you?" Darien asked, curious to know more about the girl who had once been his best friend

Serena shrugged as they continued their slow jog "Not much really, I'm doing pretty well at school and still into music and dancing and stuff, I have a small part time job at a diner in town and I volunteer at the hospital once a week in the children's ward, that and I'm still figure skating"

Darien couldn't help but smile, he could almost see Serena with the kids in the hospital, playing with them and making them smile it warmed his heart to know Serena was doing well for herself. "Sounds like you've been doing pretty well, you're mom showed me some pictures of your skating competitions, you look pretty amazing Serena"

Serena smiled slightly "Thanks that means a lot, so what about you? Anything new happening with you back in Crescent Valley?"

Shaking his head Darien chuckled "The same old routine, still go to sports clubs like basketball, football, soccer and sometimes Ice Hockey. I still hang out with Jed, Zach, Nathan and Malcolm too"

Serena blushed slightly as she laughed "Yeah I heard, Raye and the girls often tell me a thing or two about school, sounds like someone's turned into a bit of a lady's man"

"Who? Me! No way! Well I mean..." Darien stuttered

Serena smiled teasingly "For someone who's not a lady's man, you're getting pretty defensive there, Shields"

"Well what about you, Silvers?" Darien smirked playfully although some part of him wanted to know "Got any boyfriends Daddy doesn't know about?"

Serena laughed "Ha ha nope just plenty of hobbies, good friends and an awesome family that's it for me"

"Well that's surprising" Darien commented almost too gladly as they jogged up hill

Serena turned to him questioningly "What is?"

Darien smiled "well out of all the girls I've met, you're the cutest one I've seen by far"

Serena laughed unevenly hiding a blush "Oh come on Lady's man! Does that cheesy babble work on all the girls?"

"I'm not a Lady's man!" Darien moaned as Serena laughed

Smiling about the banter between them, Darien almost felt like Serena hadn't been apart from him at all. As they entered town there was a light call of "Hello Serena, Dear!"

Serena turned and saw an elderly woman waving from a flower shop and waved back "Good Morning Mrs Baxter"

Just as they passed more shops, Darien heard countless people, calling out "Hello Serena" or "Hi Serena" or "Ah Serena good morning"

Darien was surprised to see how many of the people in town knew Serena, she'd always been so open and friendly towards others around her it was almost impossible to think she wouldn't be well known but this was something amazing. Nearly every other person had stopped to greet her or wave a cheery hello from opening their shop and even some of the small kids that were out playing early in the morning stopped to greet her.

"Wow someone's popular! Do you know all these people?" Darien asked curiously

Serena smiled "I think after this weekend you'll see that St Artemis is quite a small town Darien, it's hard not to know everyone after a while, plus many of these people come to the figure skating competitions and events I take part in so they know me because they pretty much see me around all the time"

They jogged up to the park towards a spacious field with a big old tree stump in the centre perfect for sitting on.

After playing with Sammy for a while, Serena and Darien sat on the old tree stump and just relaxed for a moment whilst they caught their breath back. Serena gasped softly in surprised as she felt Darien's warm hand slide over her small dainty hand, holding her slender fingers within his as he said "I'm really glad to see you again Serena,"

Turning to look at Darien, Serena met his cobalt blue eyes filled with sincerity as she said "I'm glad to see you too, just now it felt like we were back to how we were before, laughing and joking around"

"Playing stupid pranks on each other" Darien added in and laughed "Like me putting worms in your spaghetti at dinner"

Serena laughed "Or tricking you into playing blind man's bluff and hiding up in a tree"

"That was just plain mean" Darien pouted playfully "I was looking or more like feeling around for you for about three hours"

Serena scowled back "No what's mean is convincing me there were no monsters in the closet and then jumping out of it hours later with a scream mask and plastic meat cleaver in your hand"

Darien laughed so hard at that memory as faint images of a sleepover at her house showed a little 8 year old Serena in her little pink PJ's and braided pigtails running screaming and crying from her room as a small boy in a glow in the dark scream mask and plastic meat cleaver chased her around the house.

"I had nightmares for like a week!" Serena scowled at him poking him in the side as he laughed "You literally flew back into the wall when you screamed too it was priceless"

"Not as priceless as the trick we pulled on our parents do you remember that?" Serena laughed

Darien chuckled "Yeah when they all fell asleep in the garden in the summer"

"And we drew on their faces with that spray cheese stuff and spray painted their hair with the Halloween green hair spray" Serena laughed hysterically

"And then we hid for four hours watching Recess in the basement" They laughed in unison.

Calming down from their fit of hysteric laughter, Serena and Darien sighed "Ah they were good times, we had so much fun" Serena smiled

Darien nodded but also said with genuine disappointment "Yeah and there were so many other times we could have shared too"

"Yeah" Serena said with a sad little smile "but we've still got a lot of years to go and if I'm not mistaken we made a promise remember"

Smiling at that fleeting moment that they shared that day four years ago, Darien took hold of Serena's hand and wrapped his pinkie around hers "Our first meeting since that promise"

Serena nodded and said "Yep that's right!"

"I want to wipe the slate clean between us so I'll start off by saying this" Darien looked at Serena with sincere guilt "I'm really sorry for how I treated you Serena; I was just a dumb little kid who thought it was more important to be cool with the guys, then to be a good friend"

"It's alright Darien, we were both very young and grew to love different things and different people, and I can understand how hanging out with guys would have been more fun than hanging around with some girl" Serena said with a smile

"But you weren't just some girl Serena" Darien said with the same guilt ridden expression on his handsome face "you were special to me, I didn't realise how special until that day you left, I really messed up by letting you down so many times"

Serena just shook her head as she squeezed Darien's hand reassuringly "Darien it's been a long time since all that happened. We've grown up a lot more since then haven't we? I'm willing to forgive and forget so let's start again with a clean slate just like you said ok?"

Darien just sat and looked at Serena in surprise and admiration, she had really matured during their time apart and he was eager to find out what else about her was new. With a warm smile and a nod Darien said "Thank you Sere"

Serena smiled warmly as she stood up stretching a little "Ok got to jog back again, let's go"

"Can't we just walk home this time?" Darien asked with a tired sigh

Serena shook her head "nope we came to jog so let's jog! Come on lazy butt get up or I'm leaving you behind!"

And with that Serena took hold of Sammy's leash and started jogging leaving Darien to catch up "Hey wait up!"

They jogged home contently chatting and bantering with each other, both feeling happy to be reunited at last even to the smallest extent.

* * *

><p><span>Author's note<span>

Hey guys ^_^ sorry its been a little while between uploading chapters I'm starting work on my dissertation for uni its a really big piece of work and I haven't managed to finish the whole story yet so for now I'm just uploading another two and I promise I will get the rest of the story finished asap! Hope your enjoying it


	6. Chapter 5

**Chapter 5**

After getting back to the house, Serena and Darien showered and changed before joining their parents for breakfast in the dining room. Serena greeted Darien's mother with a big hug and happy smile as Maria gushed over how grown up she looked. Darien too found it hard not to stare over at Serena.

Serena had come back down stairs looking amazing in a lovely lace back dress with the top half in white and the skirt in soft pink that stopped just above the knee. The front had a scalloped trim trailing from the neckline to the waistline. She had white crochet tights on her legs, with soft pink court shoes with little ribbons on the front made of satin with a satin lace tied in neat little bow under her ankle. Serena's hair was tied half up in two buns outlined by a ring of delicate golden curls clipped into place with little pink flower. The rest of her golden curls fell freely down her back with small little pink flower earrings just visible behind the soft tendrils that framed her face so nicely and a perfect little pink rose locket rests just right around her neck.

Catching him staring at her, Serena looked at him with slight concern "You ok Darien? Is something wrong?"

Shaking himself out of his thoughts, Darien felt the heat of a blush stain his cheeks as he stuttered "uh...no...No not at all...it's just um"

Looking at her, Darien watched her tilt her head to the side in an adorable little act of confusion, he smiled admiringly and just said "You just look really cute that's all"

Maria and Serenity shared a knowing smile as Serena blushed and smiled back "Thank you"

Damien walked in and simply said "Serenity you might need to start hiding you're daughter away somewhere"

"And why is that?" Serenity smirked as Damien slipped his arms around the small blonde and said "Because I swear she is getting too darn pretty, there is a very big threat of boys camping under her window at night and we can't have that"

Serena giggled "Uncle Damien, that's so stupid no boys are camping out under my window"

"Boys do stupid things for pretty girls Serena" Damien winked as Richard came in the room and said "It's true Serena, we do stupid things to impress a girl"

Damien walked over and got his son in a playful headlock "Unlike Mr Smooth over here eh son?"

"Dad cut it out" Darien grumbled trying to get out of his dad's hold as Damien playfully ruffed up his son's hair "My son the heartbreaker huh Darien! Got a talent for hooking the ladies and its working like a charm"

"So you are a Lady's man then" Serena teased

Darien rolled his eyes and said in a defensive way "I'm not a Lady's man, I'm just a nice guy that's all"

Serena giggled before turning and suggesting "hey seeing as we're all up, dress and haven't eaten yet, why don't we go by the Diner for breakfast? They do some pretty good breakfasts"

"That sounds like a wonderful idea" Richard smiled putting his arm around Serena "Then after breakfast we can all wonder around the town together what do you say?"

"Sounds great" Serenity nodded.

Grabbing their purses and grabbing their car keys, they all drove off into town with Darien riding with Serena in her car because her parent's car was apparently 'too full'

"Fine I prefer my car anyway, it's more fun and I can listen to whatever music I want" Serena said with a little shrug as she got in her car with Darien in the passenger's seat. She laughed as she said "Hope you don't mind riding in a girly car with the top down but it is way too nice outside for a soft top roof"

Darien smiled at her and just shrugged "You're car you're rules Serena"

Turning to him with a happy and amazed expression Serena gasped "Oh I like that! You can definitely ride in my car again"

Backing out of the drive way, Serena let the soft top down, put the radio on and led the way into town.

* * *

><p>Walking into the diner, Darien was once again surrounded by people greeting Serena and calling her name. He watched as Serena was approached by a little girl with something in her hands "Um hi...Miss Serena?"<p>

Turning to the little girl as her parents and Darien's parents found them a table, Serena knelt in front of her and said "Hey there Cutie what's your name?"

The little girl looked bashfully at the floor digging her shoe into the floor "Ashley"

Smiling sweetly, Serena said "Oh Ashley's a pretty name, what have you got there Ashley?"

"I just joined the beginner's class at the ice rink and went with my Mommy to see you at the last ice skating competition. I really liked how you skate, you were really pretty, like a princess, I'm working really hard so that when I grow up I can be just as good as you" Ashley said shyly

Serena smiled sweetly "You won't be as good as me Ashley, you'll be way better than me!"

Ashley gasped "Really? You think so"

Serena winked at her "I know so"

"I got this for you" Ashley smiled bashfully as she handed over a little hand drawn card with a rough picture of a little princess with ice skates on and a white rose. Inside the card read:

_Dear Miss Serena, you are my idol! I wish with all my heart that one day I can be just like you_

_lots of love _

_Ashley_

Serena gave the small girl a bright smile "Oh My Gosh! Thank you so much Sweetie this is beautiful, did you draw this yourself?

Ashley nodded and Serena smiles brightened still as she opened her arms to the small girl and asked "Can I have a hug?"

With an excited nod, Ashley ran into Serena's arms and gave her a big hug as Serena gushed "Aw, you're such a cutie pie!" pulling back Serena waved to her dear friend who was a chef and pointed him out to Ashley "You see that nice man over there?"

Ashley nodded shyly and Serena smiled and said "I want to you go up to him and ask him for any flavour of pancakes you want on me ok?"

Ashley's little face lit up and she gave Serena another big hug and ran off to do exactly that as Serena joined Darien and their parents at their table.

Serena beamed with happiness as she looked over her card and rose "Aw that's just made my day even brighter now"

Serenity took at look at the card and said "Aw, I love the adorable little cards the kids make for you it's so cute"

Maria looked over in awe and chuckled "Wow Serena's quite the little popularity queen here isn't she?"

"That's what happens when everyone in town watches your daughter, sing, play a little guitar, dance and win 15 consecutive competitions in a row" Richard puffed out his chest with pride "That's my little girl"

Looking at Serena in amazement, Darien said "15 consecutive wins! Serena that's awesome!" and then said a little disappointed "I'm just sorry I haven't ever seen you skate for myself"

Serena shrugged, blushing a little as she patted Darien on the shoulder "Don't worry about it Darien, it's fine really"

"Plus we've got plenty of home videos you can watch if you want too?" Richard offered

"No! Please don't pull out the video tapes Dad you already watched them enough times already" Serena asked slightly embarrassed "It's really not..."

"Please let me watch them!" Darien asked cutting Serena off

Serena turned to face Darien who was sitting to her left "Darien honestly no you don't have to watch those things, they're really..."

"Serena one of the things I remember from when we were little is that even if it was something you didn't like or didn't understand, you came to every sporting event and sports match I ever took part in" Darien smiled nostalgically "I still remember the first time you came to a game you brought a big banner with "Shields For The Win" on it in big red glittered letters"

Serena blushed a nice shade of pink as she asked "You...you remember that? I didn't think you knew I was there"

"Of course I did" Darien said with all seriousness "I never once started a game without looking for that sign and when I did I'd always played my best because I knew you were there to cheer me on" a sadness filled his cobalt blue gaze as he finished by saying "but I've never once done that for you in anything you've done, so I want to start now... I mean if I'm not too late"

Serena stared at him with tremendous hope shining in her eyes and then with a kind smile said "Of course you're not too late, I really appreciate you wanting to support me Darien thank you"

Before another word could be spoken, the chief personally brought over their breakfast on the house as a good luck treat for Serena's next competition.

* * *

><p>Finally done with breakfast, Serena, Darien and their families wondered around town together visiting some of the favourite local market squares and places they'd often visit on a social basis together, as well as showing the Shields family where the festival would be talking place that night to see many of the towns people preparing and setting up for it.<p>

Richard, Serenity, Maria and Damien all thought it would be fun to tour the town's historical sites, museums and monuments. Not feeling much like taking a history lesson, Serena opted to take Darien on a tour of the social scenes in St Artemis.

Not about to say no, Darien and Serena climbed into her car and sped off with the soft top still down and the radio back on. They drove all over town with Serena showing him all of her favourite hangout spots including the ice rink and of course the bowling alley. She showed Darien her school, St Artemis Academy a very prestigious looking school. They drove to the town pier where they walked along the small boardwalk above the sands of the beach just below them.

Darien hadn't felt this happy and free to be himself in such a long time. With Serena he could be completely open about the kind of person he was and right now, unlike before, he didn't care who saw it. They got back into Serena's cute little silver New Beetle Convertible and started driving around again, talking about music they liked, the kind of films they were into and then cars and Darien told her all about the car he drove at home.

"You have a red, BMW?" Serena asked in awe "Oh My God Darien you put my poor little Beetle here to shame, no wonder so many girls are attracted to you, not only are you a Lady's man but you drive a mobile chick magnet"

Darien laughed "Ok One: I'm not a Lady's Man Two: I don't date a girl because she likes my stuff and Three: there's nothing wrong with your little New Beetle it a good little car that suits you Serena"

"Translation: It's good for a chick car" Serena laughed

Darien nodded with a smirk earning him a playfully punch in the arm "Hey! You said it first I was just agreeing with you"

Just as they stopped at some traffic lights, Serena was going to change the subject when her cell phone rang, with her phone adapter plugged into the cigarette lighter of the car, Serena said politely "Sorry I'm just going to take this quickly"

Pressing the loud speaker button then the answer button Serena answered "Hello?"

A loud voice starts singing down the phone "I see ya driving round town with some guy in black and I'm like calling yooouu"

Serena burst into hysterics as Darien looked to the phone then down at his black vest top and jeans and started looking around for whoever was calling. Only after failing to find them did he say with a raise of his eyebrow "Ok that is beyond creepy! Who is that?"

"Hey Yates are you nearby?" Serena laughed as the singing started again "Turn around, you got to turn around and pick me up, turn around!"

Darien couldn't help laughing as the guy kept singing the same song and then add "You're still driving round town and not turning around and I'm like forget you!"

Serena laughed again "Yates I've got a guest this weekend!"

Yates said in a laughing voice "Annnnd now I can't meet the guy, because your still driving away to the point where I can barely see your Silvers02 license plate and didn't stop you're little Serena mobile and pick me up"

Darien watched with amusement as Serena gasped with a happy smile and asked "Ooh Serena mobile?"

"The ever silver, Serena Mobile and still I see no signs of you actually turning around and coming back" Yates laughed "Do I have to sing again because I will sing until your ears literally fall off your head, Come and Get me!"

Serena exclaimed with a laugh and slight annoyance as Darien sat and listened to their banter in hysterics "Ugh! Ok I'm coming; I've got to find a place to turn first! Jeez do you think you can at least tell me where you are so I can find your sorry, song lingo ass!"

Yates sang again "I'm by the magic bus stop! Yeah! I'm by the magic bus stop"

Finally after driving ten minutes in the other direction, Serena pulled up by a quaint little bus shelter where someone had actually written '_The magic bus stop_' in graffiti.

Yates was a short young man around Serena's age and only slightly taller in height, with light green eyes, long white blond hair with a long fringe stopping just over his eyes and was tied back in a loose pony tail the nap of his neck. He also wore worn out camouflage khaki trousers, a white vest top and camouflage green converse sneakers. He had three wristbands on each arm and a military style dog collar that had an actual dog paw printed on it.

Yates raced over to the car and got in behind Darien's seat "Thank the lord! The Serena Mobile has arrived just in time to save the day again" He laughed in a southern accent.

Serena laughed "So what was so urgent I had to come back and get you all singing one?"

Yates gave her a smirk and shrugged "I was bored and it looked like you were heading towards Crown'z so I thought I'd tag along and invite myself to hang with you guys"

Serena shook her head but Darien just laughed as he said "No objection here!" he turned in his seat and raising his hand in a greeting gesture to Yates and said "How's it going I'm Darien"

"Oh sorry Darien I'm such a space cadet" Turning and gesturing to Yates, who was laughing about the space cadet comment earning him a light smack in the arm before Serena said with a laugh "this is Yates my cousin, he's my Cousin Mina's twin brother"

They shook hands and Yates smiled "Oh hey how ya doing dude? Sorry if that call earlier freaked you out its kinda my calling card for my friends, they know when it's me because I don't say hello, I just sing what I want down the phone"

Darien laughed with a small sigh of relief mixed in "its cool dude, I won't lie the first part freaked me out but it was funny maybe I should try that on my mom"

"Yeah it doesn't work on Mom so much she just hangs up on me" Yates laughed

Serena held up her hand "Actually she screams 'Stop screeching! Learn to talk properly on the phone' and then she hangs up on you"

Serena laughed as Yates started tugging on a small strand of her hair playfully "Well ok if we want to get technical about it"

"Hey! Don't mess with the hair!" Serena whined swatting his hands away.

Darien smirked as Yates tormented his cousin "So what's Crown'z?"

Turning to Serena in shock, Yates exclaimed "He's doesn't know about Crown'z"

"He's from Crescent Valley Yates of course he doesn't know about Crown'z" Serena said

"Oh Darien, dude you have been missing out!" Yates exclaimed excitedly "It's like the Holy ground that was meant for all teenagers with too much time on their hands"

Yates describes in a grand way "It's got one giant diner that stays open all day through to about 11 at night selling the best quality burgers, hot dogs, fries and desserts ever known to man with a stage for live bands, comedians, DJ's you name it with a classic disco light up dance floor, it's got an arcade full of the latest and best classic arcade games and prize machines, it's got a whole hall of pool tables and lounge areas, it's got an awesome skate park, basketball and soccer court right out in the back yard but best of all it's got its own little private Karaoke and jam party rooms for the small rental fee of just 5 bucks for the whole night! Dude this place is like the Mecca of all that is Awesome!"

"As you can guess he spends a lot of time at Crown'z" Serena laughed as they continued the drive.

Yates laughed poking Serena in the back "And so does Little Miss live stage singer here"

Darien turned to Yates and asked "What, does Serena sing Karaoke?"

"No, Serena sings live there man and she's good too! A good few times a week when my buddies and I have got our jam session on Serena often comes over with her guitar and starts busting out songs with us" Yates said with a smile "We're performing at the festival later tonight if you want to see her in action"

"Well he doesn't have to come for just that Yates" Serena blushed modestly and she was about to come up with a reason to excuse Darien seeing her when her phone rang again. Pressing loud speaker and the answer button Serena greeted again "Hello"

"Hey Serena did you get the ok from your parents for tonight or are you sneaking out the bedroom window again?" Came Mina's voice

Serena giggled "We got the ok Mina, so don't worry you don't have to rev up you're chocolate box mini to come break me out"

"Chocolate Box Mini?" Mina asked in a laughing tone

Yates from the back seat sang at the top of his voice "It's sweet like a Chocolate Box Mini girl! Chocolate Box Mini, with them chocolate coin tires girl!"

"Oh my god Serena tell me that walking jukebox didn't doop you into picking him up again" Mina groaned aloud

Serena sighed "He gets me every time Mina, it's like he has Serena radar!"

"Super Serena Radar actually" Yates called over to the phone.

Mina laughed "Shut up doofus! Go back to singing"

"Well all righty then" Yates said and went back to singing something about his sister driving a chocolate box car.

Darien watched with a smile as Serena's sweet laughter once again reached his ears. He felt an almost calm and happy feeling spread through him as he watched Serena talk to her friend on the phone, wondering if he had ever made her that happy when they'd talked as kids.

A sad almost longing feeling rose in his heart as he thought once again of the time he had neglected her calls and walkie talkie calls and Darien could only sit and wish that in some way he could make up to her for all of the things he missed out on and wondered whether it would be enough to keep Serena close to him.

Finally after much laughter and bantering, Darien heard Serena say "Ok we'll be there in 5 see you there"

"Bye Sere and feel free to chuck singer boy out whenever you want too" Mina laughed as Yates sang back "Shut up just shut up shut up!"

Laughing at her cousin in the back seat, Serena hung up the phone and continued driving, whilst Yates observed that the newcomer in the front seat was gazing at his beloved cousin with a longing in his eyes.

* * *

><p><strong><span>Author's Note<span>**

Ok guys that's it for the moment but like I said on the previous chapter I will try and get some more chapters up for you as soon as I can ^_^ Hope you enjoy it so far Byezz


	7. Chapter 6

_**Author's**_** Notes****:**

_Hey there Lads and Ladies ^_^ Yay! Chapter 6 finally! Thank you for your adds and reviews it's awesome to know you like the story so much lol I'm sorry it's taken me a while! I've got a lot going on at the moment with my university work so it may take a while to get chapters up for you guys ¬_¬' (Stupid uni work gets in the way all the time!) lol but I promise to do my best and get it finished as soon as I can. So without further ado here's the next chapter for ya_

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter 6<strong>

Finally they arrived some time later at a really snazzy looking diner/ entertainment complex and pulled into a spot next to a yellow Mini Cooper Convertible.

Just as they climbed out of the car, Serena felt someone throw their arms around her from behind hugging her tightly as a feminine voice cried "Thank God you're finally here I was getting soo bored!"

Serena giggled as she turned to embrace her cousin and best friend "Aw thanks Mina I missed you too"

Darien looked between Serena and the blonde that had just turned up and double back. Serena's cousin was almost like an exact double of Serena, the only differences being that her hair was more of light sunshine blonde where as Serena's was a golden blonde, she wore her hair half up tied in a big red ribbon at the back, her fringe was fuller at the front, where as Serena's parted in the middle in a little heart shape at the centre of her forehead and her eyes were a lighter sky blue not cerulean blue.

"Oh my God it's like she's friends with her own doppelganger" Darien said hearing Yates laughing beside him.

Yates patted Darien on the back "Dude my sister's a lot of things but she's no doppelganger, they may look alike but you just have to spend enough time with them to know they are different in ways, plus if you think that's bad you should see my mom and Aunt Serenity together their practically identical besides eyes and hair colour"

"Wow! So it runs in the family huh?" Darien laughed

"With the girls yeah it does" Yates rolled his eyes and then smirked with a sideways glance "So I saw you looking at Serena with a pretty serious stare bro, what's your story with her?"

Darien blushed "You saw that!"

"Uh yeah, kinda hard not to as you were both in front of me" Yates laughed "So come on what's the story? You looked kinda guilty looking before"

Darien sighed heavy heartedly "Long story short we were the best of friends, until an old buddy of mine came back into town and introduced me to some other guys, they were in the midst of an 'I hate girls' phase so they would always torment Serena just for being a girl...as well as her friends"

"Yeah I think I remember something about that" Yates said "Mina went to meet up with Serena in Crescent Valley at a bowling alley but got there to find Serena crying on Andrew's shoulder"

Darien nodded with a guilty frown "Yeah I won't lie I wasn't that much of a good friend to Serena after Jed and the guys showed up, I was so wrapped up in making myself look cool to them that I hurt the one person I don't have to act in front of, now all I want to do is make up for it"

Yates could see the regret on Darien's face and smiled at his genuine need to remedy his previous actions. Patting Darien on the shoulder, Yates smiled "Well looks like you made a pretty good start dude, plus Serena no ogre, if you can show her you're truly sorry she'll forgive you, in fact from what I saw in the car she's already forgiven you"

"Who'll forgive who for what?" came the feminine voice of Serena blonde cousin

Darien turned around and on closer inspection realised he recognised her as the cheer captain of the St Artemis Academy cheer leading squad "Hey I know you, your Mina Lovejoy, captain of the St Artemis Archers cheering squad right?"

Mina nodded "That's right! And your Serena's old friend Darien right?"

Darien rubbed the back of his neck with a nod as Mina took a good look at him. He was hot she'd give him that but it wasn't his looks that had her looking at him, it was his eyes and the amount of emotion that filled them when he so much as looked at Serena. Smiling almost knowingly at him, Mina took hold of Serena's hand and said "Well come on lets hang out for a while we have some time to kill before I have to pick up the girls from the magic bus stop"

With that they went inside Crown'z and Darien's mouth literally dropped open at how awesome the place looked. It was just as Yates had described and more with its 70's style diner in colours of red and blue with round booth tables and padded bench seats similar to something out of a Sean Kingston video for the song 'Beautiful girls' with a 70's style jukebox by a large stage at the far wall opposite the door they had just entered and light up disco floor.

The arcade was huge with countless different arcade games from racing games to DDR, shooter game to crane machines with 9 doors lining the left side wall where the private function rooms were. At the back of the arcade was a double door that was held open and led to the basket ball and soccer court with a huge skate part in between the two that lay at the bottom of a small flight of steps. To the right of the double doors was a huge seating area filled with colourful benches with small vending machines nearby for drinks and snacks as well as bins to clear the rubbish away. To the left of the double doors was another set of double doors that led to a huge hall of pool tables with a few old snooker tables thrown in amongst them. At the very back was a large soft sitting area some of which had tables at the centre of a small circle of soft chairs and beanbags that some teenagers were currently using for playing cards on.

Finally coming back into the diner, Serena Mina and Yates led Darien to a booth near the stages at the far side of the diner. They laughed as Darien sat star struck by his surroundings as Yates asked "Impressed bro?"

Darien shook his head with a smile "Dude I am never leaving this place!"

"I told you it's the holy ground of all that is Awesome!" Yates smiled and got a high five from Darien who said "Seriously! The guys back home would freak if they saw this the only thing we have that's close to a good hangout place is the Crescent Valley bowling alley"

Serena laughed "Aww I used to love that bowling alley, does the old guy with the top hat still turn up in the cafe"

"Sadly no we don't see him anymore" Darien smiled "but that scary looking lady that dressed in really gaudy colours and the weird hair pieces still comes in a lot though"

Serena gasped in amusement "you mean the one we called Mrs Trench coat? Remember that one year around Christmas and she came in with the huge golden bow on her head"

"Yeah" Darien shuddered "she's still scary beyond all reason too"

Nudging Darien on the arm as they sat in the round booth next to each other, Serena laughed "No she wasn't, Mrs Trench coat was a perfectly normal lady who was just very, very eccentric"

"If by 'very very eccentric' you mean completely crazy then yeah she was 'extremely eccentric" Darien smirked

Their banter continued into the afternoon as Serena, Mina and Yates and Darien sat down and ordered lunch. As they sat eating Mina and Yates told him all about the kind of things they do together with Serena and the fun times they had. Yates told Darien about the tricks he pulled on the girls like rigging up the Pac man machine to the scary maze game as a Halloween prank or the time they all took a load of balloons from a kid's party in the diner and hid in one of the private rooms sucking the helium and singing stupid songs.

"The best one was when me and Serena came in after a bad day at work and Yates and his friends got us dancing randomly here on the dance floor" Mina explained as they laughed "At least 20 other people joined in and we created this really random flash mob to the some random song on the jukebox it was insane"

Serena laughed "and then after that Yates hid behind the crane machine with one of the balloons from the diner and every time a kid came to try and win a toy he'd suck some helium start screaming or muttered 'Oh no! Help me!' from behind the machine and freaked the kids out"

Darien was in hysterics as he pictured the small kids freaking out and running from the machine whilst Yates sat crouched down behind the machine laughing. Sitting up and wiping tears of laughter from his eyes, Darien listened to other fun times and shared a few of his own with them all. After reminiscing for a while and after they'd finished their meal of hotdogs and fries, Serena checked the time and noticed the time was getting ahead of them "Oh shoot I lost track of time, come on Darien I got to get us back to my place, Mina you're going to get the girls from the magic bus stop right?"

Mina winked as she rose from her seat with Yates at her side and said "I'm on it! Just waiting for Lita to call and I'll run them back to my place to drop off their stuff before picking you up at your house"

"I'll head back with Mina" Yates said with a smile "I gotta change and pick up my guitar so I'll catch a ride with Mina and you guys later ok?"

"How exactly are we going to fit 6 people in one car that only seats five people?" Serena laughed

Mina shrugged with a smirk "If push comes to shove and he starts singing again we can always pack Yates up in the trunk"

Yates merely shrugged "No biggie I've ridden in the trunk before"

"Have you ridden in a trunk inside a guitar bag? Because that would be funny to see, but you probably couldn't do it" Mina teased daringly

Yates gasped in excitement "Oooh Challenge! Dude I'll take that on! Let's go I wanna try this"

Laughing at Yates enthusiasm for their little dare Serena nodded and rushed towards the door with Darien in tow as she waved back "Ok guys see you in an hour"

Getting back into her ever reliable little Silver New Beetle Convertible that was now forever christened with the nickname 'The Serena Mobile' Serena and Darien rushed home and after a polite 'hello' and 'excuse me' to the family Serena ran off upstairs to get herself ready for the festival.

Shortly after Serena disappeared upstairs Richard, Serenity and both of Darien's parents walked into the room with their bags, wallets and keys in hand as Richard asked with a smile "Hey there Darien, ready for some festival fun my boy?"

Darien turned to them in surprise "We're going now? But Serena and I only just got back, shouldn't we wait for her"

"No need to honey" Maria smiled at her son "Serena will be coming along later as she's part of one of the festival events, you'll see her there, for now let's go! I want to get some cotton candy"

Rolling his eyes at his mother's giddy behaviour, Darien went along with his parents as well as Mr and Mrs Silvers to the festival.

* * *

><p>After washing and getting dressed Serena was just putting the finishing touches to her outfit when she heard the door bell start to ring as well as her phone ringing. Seeing Yates name flash on the small screen on her cell phone, Serena rolled her eyes and answered only to have his voice singing loud and clear "Knock knock, knocking on Serena's Door! I'm knock knock knocking on Serena's Door! Why don't ya come and answer your stupid door? Coz I'm still knock knocking on Serena's door yeah!"<p>

Serena shook her head while laughing "Hi to you too Yates, the doors open so just come on in, I'm just finishing getting ready"

"Actually I'm not knocking at your door I just wanted to call you and say guess who just won a bet?" Yates asked laughing all the while

Serena replied in astonished amusement "Seriously! You got into the guitar bag?"

"Hells yeah I did and I just won $20 bucks because I'm lying in the trunk too" Yates laughed triumphantly "Ha ha suck on that Mina! Try telling me I can't do it huh?"

"Ok I have to get a picture of this before we go that is just too good to pass up" Serena laughed hysterically as she put her shoes on "So who is at the door?"

"Why don't you come down from your little Serena tower and find out" Yates said

"Ok gimme a sec" Serena checked herself one last time in the mirror.

Serena looked amazing in a bright berry pink Kimono top with angel sleeves on both sides, white half length legging that topped just under the knees and frilly satin purple – pink peep toe shoes. She had her hair done in the same style as early in two buns of golden blonde curls tied atop her head with bright pink and white glitter gem hair clips encircling each one. The rest of her glorious golden curls cascaded down her back in a curtain of golden blonde silk. She wore pink rhinestone heart shaped earrings and pink beaded bracelets adorned her right wrist.

Her makeup consisted of subtle rose pink eye shadow with a hint of white dazzle dust on the inner corner of each eyes. Black coal eyeliner lined the bottom of her beautiful blue eyes framed by long fair eye lashes and her lips were painted a glorious shade of dolly pink.

Grabbing her silver guitar case, Serena race down the stairs and a bright and happy smile spread across her beautiful face as for the first time in a very long while her eyes landed upon the faces of her beloved friends Raye, Lita and Amy.

Placing her Guitar on the floor Serena raced across the room and threw herself into the arms of her dear friends as they shared a group hug laughing smiling all happy to be together again.

* * *

><p>Pushing to the front barrier in front of the stage to get a better view, Darien felt someone tap him on the shoulder. To his discomfort, Darien turned to find a smiling Mina and three shell shocked and almost outraged looking girls looking back at him. Darien laughed nervously as he raised his hand in greeting "ha ha hey there Raye...Lita...Amy...how's it going?"<p>

Raye raged "What are you doing here?"

Darien shrugged and was about to answer when Mina cut in "You guys know each other?"

Lita huffed "Of course we do! That's guy and his friends made Serena's and our childhood a living hell!"

Darien turned to face Lita defensively "Look I know I wasn't the greatest friend to her but I did care for Serena!"

"Yeah you cared so much that you tried soooo hard to stop your jerk ass friends from bullying her!" Raye said sarcastically "Oh wait...That's right you didn't try to stop them at all! You sat back and watched!"

Lita mockingly swooned as she droned sarcastically "Oh my God! What a friend!...Not!"

Darien felt his impatience boil over as he shot back "Oh yeah? Well if I'm so bad to her, how come I'm staying at her house? Huh?"

A smirk grew on Darien's face as he watched all three girls staring at him with the mouths agape with shock "What!"

"Didn't see that one coming did you!" Darien smirked smugly with his arms folded over his chest

Lita tried to launch forward at him but was held back by Mina as she screeched "YOU ARROGANT SON OF A...!"

"OH MY GOD! ENOUGH ALREADY!" Mina yelled and stood between Darien and Lita as she said "Lita cool your jets and Darien stop egging them on!"

They cried in unison "but it was him!" "but it was them"

Mina cried in frustration "I don't care who's fault it was and I don't care who started but so help me I will finish it for the both of you!"

Both the girls and Darien let out an agitated sigh as they begrudgingly admitted defeat. Mina sighed as she said "Look its clears there's bad history here that involves Serena too but girls I've spent half of the afternoon with Darien and to be honest he's an ok guy"

Raye and Lita scoffed as Mina continued "No he really is! Serena's been hanging out with him all day and she's absolutely fine with him, almost happy about it"

"That's called being polite Mina" Raye said in a matter of fact way

Mina rolled her eyes irritatedly "No Raye that's called 'Serena in general' she seems to have gotten over the bad water that seems to be between you guys so you'll both have to too! At least for tonight"

Much like that of stubborn children, Raye, Lita and Darien stood with their backs to each other as Amy stood with Mina in the middle. She noticed neither were budging to make the first move so stood in front of her two friends and tapped Darien on the shoulder. He turned to see the shy school genius in front of him as she held her hand out and said in a polite shy voice "Truce?"

Darien looked at the small blue haired girl in front of him and smiled. He'd always thought nothing but good things about Amy, she was smart and quite mature for her age but also she had a good sense of judgement and character. Nodding his head he shook her hand and said "Truce!"

* * *

><p>The concert was amazing! Serena seemed to own the entire stage with her presence. She was a show woman through and through and kept the crowd highly entertained as she'd interact with them by getting them to sing along or start some kind of crowd dance. At one point Serena and Yates encouraged the whole crowd to do the mexican wave which looked amazing from the stage.<p>

After a final encore performance, Serena joined her friends only to be confronted with heated questions about a certain guy staying in her house. Serena explained the whole situation with a nervous laugh and also explained that it had been a long time since everything that happened before and about Darien's sincere apology just this morning.

"He's good this time girls, I promise!" Serena assured them as she urged them to follow her "Now come on! I want to win a bunny plushie"

They played various games, went on many of the rides and by the end of the night, Raye, Lita and Amy all warmed up to Darien a little as they saw how attentive her was towards Serena. Plus by then Yates his band mates, Seiya and Taylor had joined them and the fun just doubled as Serena showed them all pictures of Yates in the trunk wearing his 'specially modified' guitar bag.

After a while they raced each other to Crown'z Darien went with Yates and the band guys in their car as Serena got in with Mina and the girls in her yellow Mini with the soft top down. They sat in the diner sharing milkshakes, fries and funny stories and before they knew it they were being ushered out the door by owner Mr Motoki.

They said they're good byes to each other and as they dropped Darien off at Serena's house, Darien turned and asked "So I'm going back home tomorrow night, can we hang out again in the morning"

Serena smiled and laughed "Well its movie day with the girls at my place tomorrow so you'll be seeing me whether you want to or not to be honest"

"Let me guess chick flicks all day?" Darien chuckled

Serena wagged her finger at him and winked "Now now Darien I'm not that typical! We watch comedies ya know too"

Laughing at Serena's response to his question, Darien rolled his eyes and said "See you tomorrow then girls"

Watching him walk in doors before they drove off Serena smiled and softly replied "See you tomorrow"

* * *

><p><em><strong>Author's Notes<strong>_

_That's chapter 6 all ready for you lads and ladies! I will have more chapters ready soon but my work from uni has to come first at the moment as I am literally swamped with homework ^_^' haha life of a student eh? Anyway I promise to try and get more chapters up soon so bare with me and I will get them done when I can. ^_^ See you soon_


	8. Chapter 7

_Author's Notes__:_

_Hey guys ^_^ here's chapter 7, sorry the story is dragging a little but I am looking to get it moving along a lot faster. Unfortunately I've gotten to the point where I know where I want the story to go I just need to type it out ^_^' lol but I'm getting there slowly. Thank you for the reviews and adds that I've gotten since starting this one it's been really great to know people like my writing you gus rock! ^_^ So here we go on with the story:_

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter 7<strong>

The next morning Darien couldn't help but wake up with the biggest smile on his face. It felt like mere seconds ago since he'd been laughing and smiling with a certain golden haired angel he'd missed for so long. It amazed him but the more time he spent with Serena and got to know of her the more he felt like he wanted to stay with her if not stay nearer where she was. Being here with Serena like this, being able to be like he was when he was with her, made Darien see that when he was with her he was as happy and genuine as he had ever been with anyone else he knew.

With a sight of contentment escaping his lips, Darien got up out of bed, showered, dressed and went down to breakfast. Upon entering the kitchen he found both his parents and Serena's grinning at him as his mother got up from her seat at the breakfast bar and walked over to him pinching his cheeks as she cooed "There he is my little stop out!"

The other parents laughed as Darien's face turned red "Mom cut it out! I'm not a stop out"

"Oh yeah?" Damien smirked as he looked at his son "Then who was that coming in after half past eleven last night huh? The tooth fairy"

Maria hugged her husband from behind as she said "hmm, that's one unconvincing tooth fairy honey"

Damien turned to his wife and smirked "Yeah for one you have no wings"

"No magic wand shaped like a tooth" Maria added in

"No frilly tutu...oh and that's right, isn't the tooth fairy female honey?" Damien asked turning to his wife with an amused smile

Darien threw his arms up in the air with an agitated sigh "Ok I get it, yes I got in late"

Serenity and Maria giggled much like young school girls as Serenity came to stand in front of Darien too, Richard just sat chuckling from his seat at the breakfast bar as Maria asked "You we're out with Serena and the girls then huh?"

Darien blushed and looked down at the floor "Yeah, we hung out at Crown'z after the festival and they dropped me home"

"And?" Serenity and Maria asked simultaneously

Darien shrugged with confusion "and nothing that was it, we said good night and they're coming back here sometime today"

Sighing in slight disappointment Maria and Serenity went back to their breakfast where Richard sat chuckling, reaching for Serenity's hand he said quietly "Sweetie leave the boy be, things happen at their own pace you know"

Serenity shrugged with a sigh "Yeah I suppose"

Just then as everyone was sitting around the breakfast bar eating a feast of pancakes, waffles and different toppings of fruit, syrup and cream, they heard the front door open and a peal of giggles reached their ears as four young ladies came into the kitchen.

Turning his head to look at the kitchen door way, Darien felt the smile return to his face as his eyes took in Serena's gorgeous appearance. She was wearing a white crochet shell top, with washed out pink jeans and baby pink quilted ballet flat shoes. She had three pink beaded bracelets on her wrist and soft touches of lip gloss and eye liners adorned her lovely face. Serena's hair was done in the same style as yesterday, same cute buns on top of her head with the rest flowing down her back in waves of golden hair.

Serena moved round the room greeting her parents as well as Damien and Maria with a big hug. After being coaxed by Serena's dad to join them for breakfast, Serena, Lita, Mina, Amy and Raye all sat down to breakfast with Serena, her family and their guests.

Sitting down next to Darien, Serena smiled "Hey you, did you sleep ok?"

Darien smiled back "Yeah I slept great thanks, how about you? You girls didn't get too crazy last night did you"

Mina giggled "We got enough considering the amount of fun we had last night"

Lita laughed as she trailed off the things they had done "Yeah we gossiped a lot told ghost stories, freaked Serena out when Raye dress up as that long black haired woman from the grudge"

Mina laughed "ha ha she even got the whole creepy throat sound down to a T"

Everyone laughed as the image of Raye creeping up on Serena in a white night gown and wig came to mind. They talked long into the early afternoon, with the girls telling them all about their sleepover and the thing they'd done at Crown'z yesterday after the festival was over. Overall it was a very pleasant morning.

Serena shuddered "Ugh! Don't remind me! Do I even want to know why you learnt to do that?"

"What? You mean this?" Raye giggled as she got up off of her stool, came up right next to Serena's ear and did the same creepy croaking sound as in the movie and Serena shuddered and let out a little whimper "Aggh! Cut it out! Raye that's so weird"

The girls and Darien all sat laughing as Serena rubbed at her ear as if to try and get the sound out.

They all talked and laughed for a while longer before leaving the table to do their own things. Eventually the girls all set up Serena's basement room, which had been converted into a hang out spot for her and her friends when they came over. The room was quite spacious with three curved shaped red cushioned couches with small glass coffee tables at the ends of each one in the centre of the room, both of which sat in front of a huge wide screen television with a black entertainment unit containing a 5 disc DVD player, 5 disc stereo system and stacks of DVDs and music CDs.

In a small silver shelf unit below the TV was a Nintendo Wii full equipped with a Wii fit board, four control remotes and nunchuks and Xbox 360 with Kinects. The two consoles also had multiple games of every kind in the entertainment unit shelves as well. In the middle of the two couches in front of the TV was a big white sheep skin rug. Just behind the couches was a wicker chest. Looking to the right as they came down the stairs there was a small counter top with an electric kettle, sink with dish rack and microwave that was had been placed on a bracket on the wall next to a small cupboard. There was also a single draw and three cupboard doors just under the counter.

At the back of the room was a round white table with matching chairs placed on top of yet another sheep skin rug in pink. There was poker set in the middle of the table complete with two decks of playing cards and betting chips.

The girls all made themselves comfortable as Serena set to work getting drinking glasses and three big bowls out of her cupboard below the little kitchen counter whilst Mina stuck some bags of microwave popcorn in the microwave. Amy, Lita and Raye took out five quilted blankets from the wicker chest behind the couch and all had their own coloured ones in there. Raye had red, Amy's was blue, Lita's was green, Mina had orange and Serena had a pink one. Looking at the couch, Serena realised that with Darien joining them they were short a blanket "Wait right here I'll just run and get another one"

Darien looked around in awe and noticed that the cupboard just below the microwave was actually a fridge filled with sodas, microwave snacks and chocolate stuff.

Catching hold of her hand before she raced up the basement stairs, Darien chuckled "its ok, Serena I don't need a blanket or anything"

Looking to Darien in surprise Serena asked "Are you sure? It's no problem I can go and get one"

Shaking his head, Darien threw Serena over his shoulder hearing a little squeal and giggle escape her lips before he gentle dropped her down on one of the couches "Just hurry up and start the movies"

Sitting down with their popcorn, drinks and sitting under their quilted blankets everyone was ready to start when Mina gave a slight giggle and said "Now you guys are probably going to hate me for this but I called ahead to Uncle Richard and Aunt Serenity this morning and asked them to randomly pick some movies and put them in the DVD player"

The girls all laughed as Serena said "Oh this is gonna be good, Darien you might want to leave now to save your sanity"

Darien raised a curious eyebrow to Serena who was sitting to his left "Why?"

"Let's just put it this way, Mom loves sappy romance films and dad is all about action and sci-fi movies" Serena laughed as Darien's face just dropped. The girls laughed as Darien jokingly got up and ran for the basement stairs, returning to sit next to Serena with a smile on his face "Ok I think I can handle it"

Mina asked "Are you sure? Because once we start there's no stopping"

Smirking at Mina, Darien chuckled "Please if I can endure hours of Lord of the Rings, both standard and extended additions in one afternoon with my dad, then I can handle anything"

"Ok let the torment begin!" Mina cheered as she hit the play button.

To Darien's surprise it wasn't as bad as the girls had made it out to be. First they watched White Chicks, which had Serena laughing as soon as it start for the irony of it and of course when the time came, Mina and Serena started doing the Latrell dance. Second movie on show was Tangled, one of Serena and Mina's favourite modern Disney film that had all of them laughing even Darien. Third film in the line up was Sleepy Hollow which had all of the girls hiding and swooning over Johnny Depp "Ok for me he's hotter as Captain Jack Sparrow but regardless, Johnny Depp is the sexiest man alive" Raye swooned as she put another piece of popcorn in her mouth.

Lita sighed "Ah tell me about it, the best I've seen of him looks wise is in Sweeney Todd, yeah the movie sucked but Oh My God he looked hot in Gothic clothes"

Serena shook her head "The one character I loved with Johnny Depp in it is Once Upon a Time in Mexico, where he gets his eyes cut out by the main gangster boss and shows up at his house and has this badass shoot out near the end" Serena sighed "I know it sounds sick but I've never found a blind guy so sexy in my life!"

Darien just shook his head "So are you girls going to be drooling all the way through this movie or what?"

"Aw don't feel left out Darien! I've seen you drooling over Christina Ricci a couple of times already" Lita pointed out which got the girls laughing as he shrugged and said "The girl looks good in a corset, I'm only human"

The fourth film they watched was The Stranglers, something that had Darien smiling all the way through. The reason for this was because every time Serena would get scared she would lean in to him burying her face in the side of his arm or shoulder. The girls all saw the look on Darien's face as Serena hid away from the TV screen and just shared a knowing and slightly surprised glance.

After the forth film was over it was time it was already so late in the afternoon and the girls had to go home. Walking up the stairs to the front door, Serena said an emotional good bye to her friends promising them that she would come to Crescent Valley to see them soon. When she returned to the basement, Darien was still sitting there waiting for her. Thinking that he'd want to stop watching the movies they had in the DVD player, Serena went to clear up the popcorn bowls and glasses when Darien stopped her hands "Hey no yet there's still one more movie to watch isn't there?"

Looking at him in surprise Serena asked "What? You still want to watch the last one?"

"Yeah I want to see what movie it is" Darien said pulling Serena into the seat next to him.

Pressing play, the last movie they watched was 'How to Lose a Guy in Ten Days'. They laughed at the many comedic scenes that played out on the screen whilst Darien sat with his left arm over the back of the couch. The movie soon ended and Maria came down the to tell Darien it was time to start packing to go home but when she got to the bottom of the stairs she smiled at the sight of them sitting so comfortably next to each other chatting away as if they'd never been apart. Quietly, Maria turned to leave when she heard Darien call out "Hey Mom, what's up?"

Cursing silently for getting caught Maria turned with a smile and said "nothing's up just came to tell you we'll be packing and getting ready to leave soon honey"

Darien's eyes filled with slight disappointment and sadness as his mother's words played over. Having been so wrapped up in being with Serena and getting to know her again, Darien had completely forgotten that they had to leave today. Turning to his mother, Darien nodded to acknowledge what she had said and smiled slightly "Ok Mom I'll just help clean up in here and come straight up"

"Ok honey! Take your time there's no rush" Maria smiled at both of the young teenagers before disappearing upstairs.

* * *

><p>All too soon, Damien's car was packed and ready to go and Maria, Damien and Darien were all saying their final goodbyes. Serenity and Maria shed a subtle tear as they promise to speak more on the phone and visit each other again. Richard and Damien were already planning their next drinking get together and Maria and Damien had already hugged and kissed Serena goodbye now waiting in the car for their son.<p>

Darien couldn't help but feel an enormous urge to stay...that or pack Serena in the car and take her with him, but he knew he couldn't do that. Feeling a bout of nerves rise in his stomach Darien took a deep breath before asking "So um, would it be ok if...You know... I came to see you again? I mean I do have a car of my own and I'm pretty sure I can remember the way from the drive here so..."

Serena smiled brightly as she said "Of course you can come and see me, I'm happy for you to visit me that is...if you want too"

"Absolutely! I mean if you're sure it's ok" Darien asked hopefully rubbing the back of his neck nervously

Serena gave a nod of the head as she said "Of course its ok! We can drive now right? Its funny how having a car makes a place seem less far away isn't it?"

Thinking about what Serena just said Darien laughed "Yeah I guess it does"

"Darien?" Serena said in an almost nervous tone "Um...Would you...I mean would you by any chance like to...you know...come to the skating competition this Saturday?"

Darien's smile grew all the more as Serena began to stutter "Uh...only if you want to...I mean...I understand if you have other plans or you're maybe not interested in that sort of thing"

Taking Serena's dainty hands into his own, Darien said with sheer sincerity "I'm more than interested Serena, I'll be there right in the front row and then afterwards when you win I'll treat you to a milkshake at Crown'z to celebrate"

"Wow! I'm definitely holding you to that" Serena laughed and then got all serious handing him a small card with her cell phone number and email address on it "Here are some of my contact details for you just in case"

Smiling down at the little pink bunny stationary postet Serena had written it on, Darien took the small note from her and embraced her gently once again taking in the smell of her hair as he said "I'm going to be there for you, I'm going to make sure you can see me right there in the crowd I promise you"

Cuddling back Serena smiled at the deja vu that came over her as she said "Until next Saturday then"

Pulling back from Serena, Darien got into his father's car and waved out of the window keeping his eyes on the golden haired angel until she was completely out of sight.

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><p><em><span>Author's notes<span>_

_Abit short? I know but there is plenty more on the way. Next chapter should be up soon after this one. Hope you liked it ^_^ Cya soon _


	9. Chapter 8

_Author's __Notes_

_Hey Guys Maisie here ^_^ I've taken some time today to go through my story and it seems to be coming along nicely. There are still some points I'm trying to get to with it but you'll find out about those when I get the chapters done and uploaded so without further a do here's Chapter 8! Enjoy ^_^_

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><p><strong>Chapter 8<strong>

Darien couldn't have wished for better luck if he'd tried. After that one blissful weekend in St Artemis, Darien could not wipe the smile from his face or get a certain blonde hottie out of his head. When walking around school during the week he would say hello to Raye and the rest of Serena's friends reminiscing about the weekend they had shared with Serena and the fun they had had together despite their history.

Jed, Malcolm, Nathan and Zach all watched their friend with confusion and curiosity as he walked around the school as happy as a clam with a sigh of contentment escaping him every few minutes.

Looking to his friends, Jed wore the most questioning look on his face as he said "Guys I think it finally happened, Darien's snapped!"

Nathan nodded "No kidding I haven't seen him this happy since the day he got his car and even that doesn't measure up to this level of happy"

Looking to his friends, Zach asked "Did something happen whilst he was away this weekend?"

Shrugging his shoulders, Jed just sighed "If it did he's keeping really damn quiet about it and it definitely has something to do with Raye and her little group because before today they pretty much sent death glares at him whenever they passed him in the hall, now it's like they're the best of friends! I don't get it man!"

Walking over and taking a seat next to Darien, Malcolm couldn't help but smirk. He knew exactly what his friend was so happy about as one: It was obvious in his demeanour and two: he'd pretty much told him everything on the phone on Monday night the first day he noticed that Darien wasn't acting the same as usual. Taking a seat next to Darien, Malcolm chuckled and asked quietly "Ok at first it was good seeing you this happy now it's just starting to freak me out"

"Say what want Malcolm, nothing's spoiling my good mood today other than the fact that Saturday is still a good three days away" Darien smiled happily

"You're really looking forward to the weekend aren't you?" Malcolm asked with a grin

"Dude if you find out how to make a time machine just let me know so I can go forward in time" Darien sighed "Seriously this week is dragging out too long!"

Malcolm smirked "She's something huh?"

"Malcolm you have no idea! Her dad let me borrow one of the tapes from a previous competition and she's amazing!" Darien said in amazement "I mean I've known hot girls but Serena's a whole different class of good looking, when she's one screen I can't take my eyes off her! I mean I'm not one to look twice at any girl but Serena she's...I dunno she's...different. I think she converted me into a figure skating fan too, no wonder she won 15 consecutive competitions with skills like that on the ice"

"15 consecutive wins!" Malcolm exclaimed in surprise trying to keep his voice down "That's really impressive dude! You think she'll win this weekend"

Darien smiled with a subtle pride "No question about it man and when she wins I'm going to be right there to witness it!"

"Witness what Dar?" Jed said, breaking Darien out of his dream like haze.

Smiling to his friends who had just joined their conversation, Darien merely said "Something Incredible"

Jed leaned on the back of his chair as he turned and looked at Darien sitting at the desk behind him and said "Look dude do you mind filling us in on what happened this weekend? Seriously seeing you this girlishly happy is creeping me out a little. Do you know how stupid you've looked with that goofy smile on your face for the last three days?"

"Goofy?" Darien asked with a mock insulted tone as he said "My smiles not goofy, you need goofy teeth for a goofy smile and mine are all fine" pulling the sides of his mouth so that his teeth were showing, Darien said with a slur "See?"

Malcolm, Zach and Nathan all burst out laughing at the face Darien was pulling. Jed laughed and just flipped Darien off showing him the back of his middle and index finger as he said "Screw you man! You know what I mean"

Just as Darien was going to come up with an excuse for this weekend he felt a pair of slender pale arms snake their way around his neck and he could feel the warm breath against his ear as that ever familiar seductive tone whispered in his ear "Hey there Darien baby"

Shuddering visibly for everyone around him to see, Darien shot up in his seat and turned to face the bane of his high school existence, Beryl Johnson standing behind his chair leaning forwards with her hands on the back of his chair sharing more than enough cleavage with the class.

"What the hell Beryl? You scared the crap out of me!" Darien said with an agitated tone

Moving forwards so her figure was pressed against him and her long snake like arm rested over his shoulder, Beryl purred in a seductive tone "Oh I'm sorry baby, I just wanted to tell you about the party I'm having at my house this weekend, you see my parents are out of town again and I'm having a few people over for some fun, wanna come?"

Darien felt his gag reflex go into overdrive as her sickly perfume wafted up his nose "No thanks I think I'll pass!"

"Oh come on Darien baby" Beryl whimpered slightly pouting as she wrapped her arms around his waist pressing her body against him "You can come as my guest of honour and I promise" she whispered in his ear seductively "I treat my honoured guest, very, very well"

Darien shoved Beryl away "Look Beryl I already told you I'm not going to your party so go ask someone else would ya"

Beryl rolled her eyes in irritation at his resistance and said "Come on Darien all the hottest people in school are going to be there! Look if you're worried about drinking a lot you don't have to worry about going home drunk or anything just crash at my place with me" turning to Jed, Nathan Zach and Malcolm Beryl smiled seductively "You guys can come along too if you want too it's gonna be a totally hot party"

"Err no thanks Beryl we've got plans this weekend" Jed said trying to think of a quick way to get out of this awkward situation.

Nathan added in "Yeah we're um...going on a camping trip!"

"A camping trip?" Beryl asked with a disbelieving raise of her slender eye brow

They all nodded as Jed said "Yeah it was all arranged between our dads... they talked us into going on this big...um..."

"Fishing and camping weekend in some forest area somewhere" Malcolm added in with a casual shrug "They weren't really all that clear on specifics just that we're going on a 'manly' camping trip, apparently we need to learn what it means to be 'proper' men"

Zach laughed along with the others at Malcolms spot on impersonation of his own father before adding "It's kind of a guys weekend hence the reason why our moms aren't coming...or sisters...or anyone of the female population for that matter"

"See Beryl I have plans!" Darien said as he pushed her away for the final time "and they don't involve going to another of your popularity drive parties! Sorry but we had this planned in advance"

Beryl looked from Darien to his guy friends and then shrugged dismissively as she said "Oh well guess there's always the next party, I'll see you later Darien baby" and with a seductive wink and sway of the hips Beryl went back to her seat.

Slumping down on his desk chair Darien lay his head on his desk. Malcolm smirked as he asked "So what was that about nothing killing your good mood"

"Don't you say another damn word you smart ass!" Darien said as his friends laughed at his now sombre mood.

Soon enough the day flew by and it came to lunch time in the school canteen where the guys got back on to the topic of what Darien had done the previous weekend whilst eating lunch.

"So back to the conversation of your scarily happy mood, what the heck happened to you last weekend Darien?" Jed asked

Nathan nodded "Yeah I mean what gives did you..." the with an amused smirked Nathan laughed "ha ha you hooked up with someone"

"Huh?" Darien asked in confusion

Nathan laughed "Don't play dumb with me man, there's only one reason a guy would smile like you that and that is he got lucky with a chick, now spill it dude! Who'd you hook up with?"

Jed turned to Darien with a horror stricken look as he asked "It wasn't Raye was it? Dude tell me it wasn't Raye, I saw you talking to her this morning and you know I have kind of a thing for her so it better not be Raye!"

"Jed chill would ya? It's not Raye, in fact it's nothing to do with any of what Nathan just said so there's nothing to tell" Darien chuckled

Zach asked a little confused "So...you didn't hook up with a girl this weekend while you were away?"

"No" Darien said casually leaving all his friends except Malcolm to look confused as they asked "So why so happy then?"

Darien sighed contentedly "Let's just say I had a really awesome bout of Déjà vu this weekend"

Malcolm chuckled a little and Nathan's head snapped round to him as he cried "Ah ha! Malcolm knows something"

So for the remainder of the afternoon before their teacher arrived for their afternoon lessons Jed, Nathan and Zach verbally badgered their two friends whilst keeping Malcolm in a headlock to try and force him to talk. Meanwhile only a few seats away a certain red haired cheerleading captain had heard the entire conversation and already planning to do some investigating of her own.

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><p>It was Friday and after a long day at school, Darien went straight home, packed an overnight bag and threw it in the boot of his car ready for the morning. After getting his packing done in advance Darien took a drive into town and had a look through all the good stores. He was just about to enter a gift store when suddenly he felt a small slender body bump into him. To his surprise it was Amy "Oh My Gosh! I'm so sorry I didn't see you"<p>

"Hey Amy, how's it going?" Darien smiled politely

Amy began to blush a little, as she replied in a shy tone "Oh Darien...um how come you're here at the mall don't you usually spend friend with friends or something?"

"Yeah but I was a bit overly keen to get ready for tomorrow, it's an important day for Serena and I promised to show up so I just wanted to make sure I was ready to get in the car and leave in the morning" Darien chuckled rubbing the back of his head bashfully as he spoke.

"You're...you're going to the competition tomorrow?" Amy asked in surprise

Darien nodded "Yeah Serena invited me along after you girls left. Her dad showed me some tapes of the last few competitions Serena had won and to be honest, I want to see her with my own eyes, that and she did always support me in all of my sports endeavours when we were younger so I kind of feel like I should be the one to support her now you know?"

Amy gave him a polite smile, she really liked that Darien was trying so hard for her friend and could see that despite the rumours about him at school, Darien Shields was actually a very down to earth normal guy, who just wanted to do right by others. Amy nodded and said "So do Jed and your other friends know that you're going to see Serena"

Looking to Amy with an almost guilty smile, Darien said "Actually if I can be completely honest with you Amy I'm kind of keeping this to myself if you know what I mean?"

"Why?" Amy asked curiously

Darien sighed "Well you know how things were before, every time those guys came within breathing distance of Serena they'd tear her down no matter where they were or who was there, Serena's special to me and to see her as happy as she is now makes me want to ensure it doesn't happen again and if that means keeping my friends in the dark then I'll do it"

"So you didn't tell anyone about Serena because you wanted to protect her from being bullied is that it?" Amy asked with another surprised look on her face.

Darien merely nodded and said "In all fairness the only one of them that actually knows anything is Malcolm and that's only because he was smart enough to figure it out on his own the other three are still oblivious"

Amy smiled as she said thoughtfully "Maybe you should tell them about it, I mean you changed quite a bit since we were younger maybe they've grown up a little too?"

"Maybe but just for one more weekend I just kind of want to keep Serena to myself" blushing at the words that had escaped him, Darien stuttered "I mean... keep her a secret from them...Oh Dude that was so uncool!"

Amy looked at Darien in shock before giggling at his little confession/outburst and said "Don't worry I won't tell the girls about this, have fun this weekend ok?"

"Huh? Aren't you and the girls going to the competition too?" Darien asked as Amy began to walk off

Turning back to face Darien Amy shook her head "We can't, Raye's helping out her Grandpa all weekend, Lita's working and I have cram school hours this weekend, looks like you'll have to cheer three times as loud for the rest of us ok?"

Amy was about to say goodbye when Darien walked over to her and said "Wait a minute, Amy um...I was wondering, you know what kind of thing Serena likes right?"

Amy nodded her head in response before Darien asked "Would you be able to help me out for a moment?"

A small knowing smile adorned Amy's face as she nodded and followed Darien to the Jewellery store unaware that a pair of yellow hazel eyes filled with jealousy was watching them.

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><p><em><span>Author's Notes <span>_

_Next chapter will be up soon ^_^ hope your liking it so far Cya!_


	10. Author's Note

**1,2,3, Be With Me**

**Author's Note**

Hi guys its Maisie here ^_^ I am sooo sorry its taking so long to get the next few chapters up but you'll be please to know that my dissertation is nearly done and I should be back to writing and uploading in the next few weeks. Getting to the end of my university life and starting in the big world of adults now lol scary -_-'

BUT that means I'll have more time to upload more chapters and for the next few there are going to be a lot more laughs involving Serena, Darien, Yates and our favourite sailor scout girls and general boys, something tells me things are going to get alot more interesting for them. Also we'll see just how far Beryl will go to get what she wants :-P

Thank you so much for being patient and I promise to get more chapters up here ASAP

I hope you keep reading and see you soon ^_^


	11. Chapter 9

**1,2,3, Be with Me**

_Author's__ note _

_Hey Guys and Girls Maisie here ^_^ Yay! Chapter 9 is finally up and ready for reading! Woohoo! It's taken me forever just to find the time during my uni work but I am so glad to tell you that I am now all done and waiting for my graduation ceremony...which doesn't happen until November this year ¬_¬' (long wait I know) but between that and finding work I have more free time on my hands to get on with the rest of the story which I have loved writing yay! _

_Just wanted to say before we get into this chapter, to any figure skaters out there who may be reading this I apologise immensely if any details about it are inaccurate. As much as I love watching some figure skating events I'm a complete novice to this sport and I've merely gone on information I've looked up online and you can never tell how accurate they can be especially if it was found on wikipedia :-P So I am sorry if anything I've put in here is wrong but feel free to message me and share your knowledge with me as I am become more interested in it the more I watch and it would be great to know a little more about it ^_^_

**_Disclaimer: _**_Basic disclaimer again guys, I don't own any of the characters from Sailor Moon, I'm merely borrowing them for my story. So just to be clear I DO NOT OWN SAILOR MOON OR IT'S CHARACTERS _

_So now that's out the way lets get started!_

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><p><strong>Chapter 9<strong>

Finally it was Saturday and Serena couldn't shift the butterflies that were fluttering around in her stomach. Sure she'd always felt nervous before a competition but this wasn't down to that. This was down to the fact that after so long knowing that Darien wouldn't be there in the crowd, she was promised this time that he would show up for her.

Looking back and forth between the spectator stands around the ice rink and still saw no sign of him anywhere. I was still early and Serena was due to skate last but that didn't make her feel any better about the situation.

She paced around in her lovely little white leotard and ice blue ice skating dress, with slightly ruffled shoulders and a translucent glitzy from with the main part of the dress slanting from the left shoulder down just under the right arm, wrapping her body in gradient effects of glossy, white, blue and translucent lycra. The top and skirt of the dress were separated by translucent material making a slight silhouette of Serena's toned, slender stomach. The body of the dress from the chest line to the waistline was covered in beautiful little diamante crystals in an elegant little swirling pattern covering the back and front leaving the skirt completely plain as it drifted in a gradient colour of ice blue to snow white at the bottom. Pure white tights adorned her legs with white ice skates to match

Her hair had been glossed over with disco ball hair dew that had her hair glimmering with hints of shinning silver. It had been pinned up in a beautiful style that consisted of two long braids lining her head, tied into a tight and neat looking bun at the back of her head with small strands styled in a cross hatch style across the top of her head with a crown of curls still lining her forehead and gentle curls framing her face. There were small diamante pins in place were the smaller strands crossed over each other looking like a beautiful next of crystals and gold. Resting on her forehead was a jewelled headpiece made purely of diamante crystals with a small star like snowflake resting at the centre of her forehead.

Her makeup was flawless with eyes lined with black eyeliner with white and blue eye shadow applied to look like an almost smoky effect on the eyes with the colours flowing from a slightly darker blue on the outer edge of her eyes working it was into a lighter blue in the middle and them on the inner edge of her eyelid was pure white the blue framing her eyes perfectly and really brought out the cerulean colour of her eyes. Her lips shimmered with a pale pink lip gloss with soft strokes of body glitter adorning her cheeks.

Taking a shaky breath in and slowly letting it back out Serena's eyes once again travelled to the spectator stands looking for a familiar head of black hair before shaking her heard "_Get a grip Serena!"_ she thought to herself as she placed both of her slender hands on either side of her head "_He will show up, he promised he would so just try to calm down, he wouldn't break a promise to me now...right?"_

Serena couldn't help but feel uncertain and continued to pace up and down before she felt a gentle hand land on her shoulder and turned to find Mina smiling at her with reassurance and slight amusement on her face as she said "Serena relax! You're going to be fine; Darien will come before your turn comes so just try to calm down ok"

"I know Mina, I do believe him...I really do but...but that's just the problem...I suppose I've gotten so used to him cancelling at the last minute that I'm almost anticipating it'll happen this time too" Serena said with a shaky sigh.

Mina just smiled reassuringly as she said "Look Darien isn't going to miss this and you know how I know?"

Serena shook her head and Mina started laughing as she said "Because I got a text from Amy telling me he was preparing to leave at about 4pm yesterday afternoon, she bumped into him in the mall and said he was wondering around a lot not sure what to do with himself, it was like he was lost or something"

Serena giggled guessing that Darien wasn't much of the shopping type. Looking at her cousin, Serena giggled "Thanks Mina I needed that"

"Good! Now go and kick some ass!" Mina said, hugging her cousin before running to take her seat in the front roar of the stands.

All too soon the voice of the announcer was heard over the speakers as he said "Finally to finish today's short program phase we have Serena Silvers from St Artemis"

A roar of cheers was heard throughout the crowd as Serena gracefully skated out onto the ice positioning herself in a delicate pose ready to begin her short program performance.

Focusing solely on her performance and the ice beneath her feet, Serena heard the music and started her elegant routine. The music playing was 'The Prayer' by Andrea Bocelli and Celine Dion.

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><p>He was late! He knew he was late and all because the tires on his car weirdly gave out on his way there.<p>

"_I know I checked those tires before leaving home I remember doing it" _He thought as he raced towards the ice rink doors_ "dad remembers me doing it because I checked over the car at least 20 times last night before going to sleep! I knew I should have slept in the car but Dad was all like... 'Relax the car will still be here in the morning you know quit worrying and go to bed'...yeah thanks Dad good call! Never mind I'm here now I can deal with that problem later"_

Luckily he reached the door to the ice rink as music started playing, echoing throughout the spacious and cold room. Racing down the stairs towards the bottom floor front row stands, Darien saw Mina turning to face him and tapped her watch as he came to sit down next to her.

"For shame Darien! That's gonna cost you, ya know!" Mina said wagging her finger at him in a teasing manner

Darien said quietly back "I know I'm sorry I got held up what did I miss?"

"Nothing yet she's just starting her short program performance now" Mina said pointing towards the ice

Darien turned his head towards the ice to see Serena looking stunningly beautiful in colours of gradient white and blue, gliding over the ice effortlessly. Every spin, jump and elegant twirl of the body was delivered with such grace and poise. The crowd's eyes we're fixed on Serena and her incredibly fluent transition from one movement to the next as she practically flew over the ice with such beauty and refinement that it was like watching the most beautiful ballet performance playing out on a surface of crystallised glass.

When the music came to its ending Serena delivered a swift but stunning climax of graceful spins and twirls before coming to a striking but delicate pose stopping with one foot planted firmly on the ice and the other extended slightly behind her with her toe pick planted in the ice. Her arms extended gracefully over her head as the spectator stands erupted into applause. Serena smiled graciously as skated back to the centre of the ice and turned in every direction bowing gracefully to her audience before finally turning towards the stands behind her only to find to her great surprise that Darien in all his dark and handsome splendour was actually standing in the front row next to Mina cheering their lungs out.

"_I can't believe it_" Serena thought as her heart started to race with excitement "_He's here! He actually came to watch me skate!"_

Her smile brightened all the more as she finally bowed and skated off of the ice in the direction of the competitors box sitting with her coach waiting to receive her scores. At this point Darien leaned over to Mina and asked "Hey Mina I'm kind of a novice when it comes to figure skating scores how do I know if Serena's doing ok?"

Mina replied as she kept her eyes on the score board "The scores are all based on five main elements, skating ability, transition, performance or execution, choreography and interpretation and it's usually made up in point marks and builds up depending on the number of judges on the panel, those judges are the five officials you see sitting at the long panel table at the centre of the stands opposite from where we're sitting" Mina explained pointing out the panel of judges currently conferring with each other when Mina continued to explain "also this is just the short program there's still the freestyle program to go before there's an overall score"

"So what score does Serena have to beat to get ahead of the others?" Darien asked looking back at the score board.

Mina answered "The last girl got up into first with 4.5 and 5.0 across the board; gaining a total of 23.5 so in order to get ahead Serena needs at least 24.0 or 25.0"

Watching the score board, Darien crossed his fingers tightly as they all waited for the scores to appear on the screen. Just then the announcer's voice echoed throughout the ice rink as he said "So the overall score for Serena Silvers is currently..."

The judges all pressed the button on their panel table and the little screens shown on the front lit up as one at a time, the score panels displayed the number 6.0 across the board revealing a total score of 30.0. Mina and Darien were two amongst a great number of people who cheered happily as Serena's name took first place on the leader board.

Just as Mina and Darien shared a high five and the competition skaters disappeared to get ready for the freestyle program, Darien felt a hand clap down on his shoulders only to turn and find Richard Silvers standing behind him with a happy smile "Darien my boy! I thought I saw you come in"

Darien smiled at Serena's father as he said "Yeah sorry I got in a little late but I'm glad I made it in time, did you see that?"

"Damn right I saw that" Richard chuckled wrapping his arms around the two young teenagers as he said with a chuckled "I got it all on tape too, ha ha my baby is a skating champion! Come on come join me and Serenity"

Darien hesitated a little before Richard said "Don't worry son we're only about five rows up from here, that way I can get good footage and Serena can still see we're in the crowd, now let's go!"

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><p>All too soon the competition was back underway and Darien had to admit there seemed to be some stiff competition out on the ice. All of them were top of the line figure skaters that had been training for years. The other competitors came and went from the ice with their scores all up in the 4.5 and 5.0 levels.<p>

It was now Serena's turn to come back on to the ice and Richard, Serenity and Mina all noticed Darien sitting up a little taller in his seat when her name was announced. Skating to the centre of the ice, Serena now stood wearing a lovely halter neck ice skating dress in soft baby pink with black diamante jewel running in two lines from around her neck running all the way under her arms and round the back lining the back with the fabric formed a diamond shape revealing a nice patch of Serena's alabaster skin to her spectators. The front was decorated with small white diamantes with a floral pattern of with bigger jewels placed at the centre of each flower as the trailed in to two trails from the chest line of the dress to the skirt and round the back of the dress. The skirt flowed from baby pink to black at the edge of the skirt and Serena's hair head been pinned up into two buns atop her head with pink and black makeup now adorning her eyes and lips.

Her skating again was flawless a she glided around the ice to the song "Dream" by Priscilla Ahn. There was elegance and poise as well as an heir of innocence to every movement Serena made. Darien couldn't take his eyes off her; every move she made was precise and fluent down to the last twirl.

Finally coming to the final scores, Serena had a score of 24.5 which add to the score from the short program came to 48.0 all together. Once again Serena sat holding her coach's hands tightly as Darien, Mina, Serenity and Richard all crossed their fingers as they muttered "come on come on!"

Once again Serena got an outstanding score of 6.0 and 6.5 all across the board. Her overall score came to 61.0 in total. The award ceremony came and went in a flash and when Serena stepped up forward to receive her first place gold medal and trophy, the stand once again erupted into applause as pretty much the whole town had turned out to watch her compete.

* * *

><p>Finally off of the ice and still dressed in her costume Serena started walking around greeting people and thanking them for their support Serena finally made it over to her parents, Mina and Darien, throwing herself into her dad's arms as she squealed delightedly "Oh My Gosh!"<p>

"I knew you could do it honey! My girl's a champion!" Richard said squeezing Serena in a big bear hug, ecstatic for his daughter's achievements as he placed her back onto her feet.

Serenity cuddled her daughter to her as she squealed happily "Sweetie you were incredible!"

"Thank you so much you guys I can't tell you how much seeing you all in the crowd help me today" Serena smiled happily as her eyes landed on Darien "I can't believe you came to watch me skate"

Darien smiled as he came forward and pulled her into a brief hug "Of course I did! I told you I would right? Serena you're incredible! I think you might have turned me into a figure skating fan"

Serena laughed at his words but Darien shook his head and said insistently "No seriously you're so good, it makes me feel that much worse for not coming to watch you before now"

"None of that stuff matters now, what does matter is that you're here! You came here to see me, thank you Darien it means a lot to me" Serena smiled brightly at him again.

Darien couldn't help but smile as he went to take Serena back into his arms but just as he was about to do so, Serena felt a slight tap on her shoulder and turned to find her coach, Coach Kitty stood smiling at her as she said "I'm sorry to interrupt but Serena can I pull you to one side for a moment"

"Uh, sure Coach Kitty" Serena nodded obediently and turned to Darien with a smile as she raised one finger as she mouthed "I'll be one minute" before walking with her coach over to speak to another much older gentle man who wore a smart looking navy blue suit with a red tie, glasses and four official badges on his left breast pocket.

Serenity, Richard and Mina all came to stand by Darien all of them looking on in curiosity as they watched Serena shake hands with this man and asked Darien "Hey who's that?"

"I have no idea her coach wanted her to talk to him I guess" Darien shrugged putting his hands in his pockets away from the cold of the ice rink. They kept watching and their interest in the unheard conversation grew all the more as they saw Serena look from the man she was speaking to towards her coach with a shocked expression on her face.

Their curiosity became unbearable when they saw Serena's hands fly up to cover her mouth and they heard a faint "Oh My Gosh" as the gentle man wrote down something on a piece of paper from a ledger he held in his hands and gave it to her before shaking her hand with a smile and walking away.

Rushing over to where Serena stood, Richard and Serenity were at the forefront of the small group as Richard took a shell shocked Serena by the shoulders as he asked "Sweetie who was that man what did he say to you?"

Serena looked at her father as if she'd just woken up from some sort of daze and muttered softly "Tryout"

Richard, Serenity, Mina and Darien all looked to each other and then back at Serena as Serenity asked "I'm sorry sweetie what was that?"

A very shocked Serena turned to her dad and asked "Daddy can I use your phone I left mine in the changing room locker"

"Sure but what was that about a tryout?" Richard asked handing Serena his phone

Serena couldn't help but say "You'll hear in a minute I need to get Andrew on the phone!"

Dialling the number on the speed dial list, Serena listen to it ring countless times before hearing the soft voice of her brother's girlfriend "Hello Andrew Silvers residence"

"Hey Rita its Serena, um...is...is Andrew there at all?" Serena stuttered as she began to shake with pent up excitement

Rita said "Oh hey Serena, sweetie! Yeah Andrew's here he's in the kitchen here let me get him for you"

Hearing Rita run from the phone calling her brother's name Serena switched the phone onto loud speaker as she heard her brother's voice "Hey Sere! Long time no see little sis how's it going?"

Serena smiled brightly as she said in shaky voice "Um good thank Andrew um...hey you remember when we used to joke about me...you know...getting to the Winter Olympics?"

"Yeah we used to joke about it all the time why?" Andrew asked

Serena took a deep breath as she said to the speaker phone whilst looking at her parents and friends and said "Well what if I told you it might not be a joke for much longer?"

Andrew let out a gasp over the phone and Serena could only guess the expression on his face was the same as her parent, Mina and Darien were wearing right now as they heard Andrew reply with "Serena are you seriously saying what I think you're saying?"

"I've just been invited to attend tryouts for the next Winter Olympics in Vancouver!" Serena squealed with excitement as her parents wore the same shell-shocked expression as she herself had worn just a few seconds ago.

Andrew kept on muttering "Oh My God" over and over again before laughing ecstatically over the phone only for Rita to come back in and Serena heard him telling her over the phone and heard Rita celebrating with Andrew seconds later.

"Oh My God Sere that is amazing! I knew you'd do it!" Andrew said happily "So wait what actually happened? Did it come as a surprise award or something?"

So for a little while Serena stood and told everyone with her about the man her coach had introduced her to and what they had talked about, she then told them about the address, date and time of the tryouts on the piece of paper he had handed to her.

"He said he understands that I'm still in high school and has left contact details for Mom and Dad in case they need to sort anything out with school and stuff so there's still that to consider but the Winter Olympics...Wow!"

Richard swung his daughter round in the air as he cried "My baby's going to the Olympics!"

"My sister is Olympic medal material too! Go get em Serena! You're gonna make it no matter what" Andrew said "God that's put me in a good mood for the rest of the night, my sister got an Olympic tryout!"

"I can't believe it!" Serena said in a dazed tone of voice "I know we always joked about this sort of thing but I never thought it would actually happen"

They talked for a few more minutes before Serena finished talking to her brother over the phone and ran off to get changed and meet her parents, Mina and Darien in the parking lot.

* * *

><p>Before they left the ice rink, Serenity and Richard insisted that Serena travel home in Darien's car.<p>

"Go on honey, you travel home with Darien, we're just going to run by your Aunt's Diana's house and tell her the good news" Serenity said pushing Serena from behind gentle guiding her towards Darien's car.

Serena giggled anxiously "Uh Mom we can always come and see her with you guys right?"

Serenity smiled as she shook her head "no no, you kids can just go back to the house besides you know how Aunt Diana is once you start talking to her you can't really stop her"

"Oh well then Mina wanna come with us?" Darien asked as he unlocked his car

Mina looked at her Aunt Serenity and caught the wink she sent her way and knew exactly what Serenity was trying to do. Shaking her head in amusement, Mina faked a cough to cover her laughing as she said "Uh no I have to go home and grab some stuff anyway I'm planning on staying at Serena's tonight and...uh... forget to pack some stuff so...I have to go home and get it"

Looking at Mina in confusion, Serena was about to challenge that last comment as she knew Mina hadn't forgotten anything, only to be placed into Darien's car by her own father. Shocked at her father's sudden actions, Serena wound down the window and exclaimed in shock "Hey! Daddy what are you doin..."

Richard ran for his car as he waved and called over his shoulder "Don't forget to wear your seat belt Serena, we'll see you back at the house in a little while ok, bye kids drive safe"

With that, Richard Silvers was in his car with his wife and niece and within seconds was speeding off into the early evening. Looking at the disappearing rear end of Richard's car, Darien merely said "I think we really need to get mental help for our parents"

"Maybe soon than necessary" Serena added with a nod.

Shaking their head in silent amusement, Darien got in and started his car with Serena fastening her seatbelt in the passenger's seat. Looking around the car, Serena admired the interior of Darien's flashy red BMW with black leather interior. Looking out of the corner of his eye at Serena's curious glances around the car, Darien chuckled "What's up?"

Nodding her head, Serena merely said "Yep I was right, definitely a chick magnet car! Just right for a Ladies Man"

Laughing at her sudden declaration of opinion, Darien said "I'm not a Ladies Man! And it's not really a chick magnet car it just happens to be a pretty colour"

"Oh you did not play the pretty colour card on me" Serena laughed as Darien nodded and said "Well they don't really like anything else about it other than that it's red! Or that's what at least half the female population of my school tell me"

Serena laughed "Let me guess 'Like Oh My God! Darien your car is like such a pretty colour!"

Wearing a mock scared look on his face Darien merely said "Ok that was just scarily accurate!"

"What can I say I have a gift for female interpretation" Serena said making Darien laugh

For a while a comfortable silence filled the car as they took a leisurely drive towards Serena's house. Coming to a set of traffic lights, Darien looked over at Serena taking in the casual worn out denim jeans, baby pink ballet flats and pink cutie pie vest top with straps and the hem lined with black lace. She still wore the make up from her last performance that went well with her top. Darien smiled as he thought about how no matter what the situation; Serena was always so well put together with her clothes and stuff. No matter when he saw her she always looked great in anything.

Serena couldn't help but be overly aware of Darien's eyes on her. She could feel her heart start to race and her stomach began doing these stupid flips. "_Ok he's definitely paying more attention to me than before, it's ok Serena just act casual there's nothing to worry about, he's still the same guy you knew before right?"_

Feeling the car start to pull away from the traffic lights, Serena heard Darien clear his throat before asking "So the Winter Olympics huh? That's pretty big"

"Yeah, it's a huge opportunity" Serena nodded looking out the window

Darien asked casually "So you'll be staying in Crescent Valley for a few days?"

"I'm not sure yet, but the address definitely said Crescent Valley so maybe" Serena said with a shrug "I still can't believe they asked me to try out, they really think I could be Olympic material"

Darien smiled for her reassuringly as he said "I knew it from the first time I saw those tapes your dad gave me to watch"

"He what?" Serena cringed in embarrassment as she covered her face with her other hand "Oh no Daddy, I'm going to kill you!"

Darien took her hand and gave it a gentle squeeze and said "no I'm glad he did, because for the first time since we were kids I got to see just how amazing you really are Serena, I mean I may only get as far as college when it comes to football and soccer as it's not something I see myself doing forever but you...you have a real passion for your skating, something that we all see when you're on that ice"

A soft blush adorned Serena's cheeks as they both fell back into the same comfortable silence and Darien kept Serena's small and slender hand within his the rest of the way back to her house.

* * *

><p>They returned back to Serena's house to find Serena's parents and Mina had already come back to Serena's house along with Yates and his band mates. They spent all evening celebrating down in the basement of the Silver's household, calling every friend and relative they knew telling them about the news. Yates came straight over as soon as Mina had told him about the tryouts bringing Seiya and Taylor with him snatching Serena up into a big bear hug as they sang a bought of "We are the Champions!" which soon had Serena's mom, dad, Mina and Darien all joining in.<p>

Everyone danced and sang as well as playing countless games but as the night went on, Serena found it ever harder to stay awake. The toll of today's competition finally setting in on her as she sat back on the couch to the left of the TV and felt her eyes growing heavier by the second. Looking around the room, Serena saw everyone sat around the table playing a big game of poker. Smiling happily, Serena's eyes drifted shut as her mind took her back to a particular summer's day many years ago

_Flashback_

_It was a rainy summer afternoon in Crescent Valley and Serena sat at her bedroom window with the most fed up expression on her face. Sighing heftily, Serena rolled her eyes as she whined "How am I supposed to enjoy summer vacation if it's gonna rain all day! I'm so bored!"_

_Just as Serena was going to play with her dolls for what felt to her like the 100__th__ time that afternoon, she heard a static sound coming from the bunny walkie talkie on her bed as an all too familiar voice came through "Sere? Are you there funny bunny?"_

_Her face just lit up as she rushed over to the walkie talkie flopping down onto the bed on her stomach as she picked up the walkie talkie and pressed it to her ear as she said "Darien! I'm soo glad you called me; I'm so bored I can't stand it! The stupid rain's ruining all our summer fun"_

"_I know! I can't believe it started raining the one day we were going to have a camp out in my backyard!" Darien sighed sadly_

_Serena asked "How are we going to have a camp out without getting wet?"_

_There was silence for a while before Serena heard a gasp on the other side of her walkie talkie "Sere, I've got an idea, come over to my house in little while ok?"Darien asked_

"_What are you going to do?" Serena asked curiously as she rushed to get some socks on_

_Darien just answered with "You'll see! See you in a little while funny bunny!"_

_After about ten or fifteen minutes, Serena raced over to Darien's house in her waterproof and wellington boots with and excited little smile adorning her adorable face. Racing over to the front door, Serena rang the doorbell three times. Darien's mother answered the door and welcomed Serena into the house "Hi Serena, oh Sweetie I'm sorry about not being able to camp out today, the rotten weather's really spoiled things huh?"_

"_That's ok, as long as I still get to play with Darien" Serena said with a happy smile as she removed her wet coat and boots "where is Darien? Can I see him?"_

_Taking Serena by the hand, Maria ran with Serena into the living room to find a big makeshift tent make out of an old bed sheet an indoor clothes line and two pegs sat in the middle of the living room, the bottom was lined with warm sheets and blankets for them to sleep on and sitting just inside was Darien smiling at her "Tada! Look what me and Mom did" _

_Serena gasped in amazement as she squealed happily "We can still have our camp out?" _

"_We sure can and we can play lots of games and tell spooky stories" Darien said excitedly_

_Serena smiled "And we can make shadow puppets on the wall of the tent"_

"_And the best part is we can't get wet because we're inside" Darien cheered, Serena joining in not long after._

_Darien took Serena's hand and guided her over to their little tent "Come on Sere let's play Go Fish in our tent"_

_So for the rest of that afternoon, Serena and Darien sat in their makeshift tent playing cards until long after the rain stopped falling_

_End of Flashback_

Turning towards the couch, Darien said "Hey Serena we're about to play Go Fish do you want to...play"

Darien looked to find Serena laying on the couch sound asleep cuddling one of the many cushions that were scattered all over the couches close to her chest. Smiling sweetly at the adorable picture before him, Darien took the pink blanket from the chest behind the couch, gently covering Serena with it and before he straightened up to rejoin the fun, he whispered gently in her ear "Sweet dreams ice bunny"

* * *

><p>Meanwhile back in Crescent Valley, Malcolm, Nathan, Jed and Zach were all hanging out at the local bowling alley, sitting at their usually seats at the table in the back corner booth. They had enjoyed four rounds of bowling, 6 rounds of air hockey and had just about finished lunch as they discussed Darien's overly happy mood the previous day at school.<p>

"Dude I swear I have never seen the guy like that before" Jed laughed "It was like watching a kid at Christmas time after getting a new puppy or something!"

Nathan laughed "You're telling me! We couldn't go five minutes without hearing him sighing like a girl"

"Or whistling every time we walked down the halls" Zach added in

Malcolm laughed "and when we got back from lunch out at the mall he kept checking his car tires to make sure they weren't flat"

"He even checked to make sure the hub caps were still on tight enough" Jed laughed "It's almost like he was scared the wheels were going to fall off his car!"

Nathan looked to Malcolm "So come on Malcolm spill! We know you know something about his stupidly happy mood, what's going on with him?"

"Look I'm not telling anything, I'm a gossiping girl ok? Just ask him yourself" Malcolm said with a chuckle "I will tell you that he's asked us all round to his place sometime in the next few weeks so…." Malcolm trailed off cursing under his breath as he sunk low down into his seat his head turned in the direction just behind their booth.

Jed leaned down towards Malcolm after seeing his actions "Malcolm? What's going on?"

Zach looked in the small mirror just off to one side of their table and ducked down in his seat as he said quietly "I tell you what's going on! Itch bay alert!"

Glancing sideways in the mirror, Jed caught on to what Zach and Malcolm were talking a little too late as he saw Beryl heading towards their table "Man will that harpy ever quit?" he said ducking down a little too late.

Before any of them could say anything, Beryl stopped in front of their table, along with Emerald and Ann just behind her "There's no point in hiding from me boys, we know you always sit over here"

"Well what do you know guys, its Beryl…again!" Jed droned out in a sarcastic tone

Nathan rolled his eyes "Seriously didn't we tell you we were having a guy's only weekend?"

Beryl stood with her hand on her hips as she said "Yeah I do remember hearing something like that…except aren't you guys supposed to be with Darien on a 'guys only camping trip this weekend?"

"Trip got cancelled! What's it to you?" Jed asked pointedly

Beryl leaned with both hands on the table in front of them exposing her already over exposed cleavage to them all as she asked "So if the trip got cancelled where's Darien? Didn't you say he was going with you guys this weekend?"

All four boys cringed at the sight of Beryl's over exposure "One you might wanna straighten up before those fall out" Nathan gestured to Beryl's current stance "and two we don't know where Darien is and even if we did why should we tell you?"

"Oh come on guys you know you love it" Beryl said with another of her sickeningly flirtatious winks "Besides I was just wondering, as your now not going on your little camping trip that you could, you know…persuade Darien to come to my party this weekend"

Malcolm scoffed "what so you can maul him in front of everyone there? Don't think so! And beside Darien's not here"

"Not here? Pfft oh this is good" Beryl laughed bitterly "So where is he then?

Zach shrugged "We don't know but he's not with us and he's not at home, so would you mind backing away from our table and walking away, preferably towards the door…that'd be great!"

Beryl's face turned red with anger as she hissed out "I'm not going anywhere until you tell me where Darien is and if he's with another girl!"

"Well then you are going to be here for an annoyingly long time because we know nothing about any girls he's dating or where he's gone to for the weekend!" Jed with a roll of the eyes "Now Puleeeassse go and bug someone else!"

After that Beryl stormed out of the bowling alley with Emerald and Ann trailing behind her as the guys looked at each other with an anxious expression. Jed said Malcolm "Finally we've got some peace from that harpy!"

Malcolm held his cell phone to his ear as he said "Yeah but not for long, if Beryl's sniffing around asking questions she know Darien isn't just away on some parent's weekend which means more pain in ass harassment for him!"

Hearing the phone pick up on the other side Malcolm said "Hey Darien it's Malcolm, listen we've got a code Harpy situation on our hands back here let me fill you in"

* * *

><p>Annoyed by their attitude, Beryl and her friends stormed out of the bowling alley as she grumbled under her breath "Slashing his tires didn't work! And those dumbass friends of his aren't budging either! One way or another I'm going to find out just what that blue haired bookworm bitch was doing with my man! Darien is mine!"<p>

* * *

><p><em>Author's Note:<em>

_You have no idea how nice it feels to get back to my writing and daydreaming again lol ^_^ Next chapter up soon! _


	12. Chapter 10

_Author's Note__:_

_Hey Everyone ^_^ Maisie here again! And yet another chapter done and uploaded yay! Trying to come up with some good material at the moment and I've just found a load of other stories that I've written before having to stop for my university work and some of them are good but still in progress, so I'll try and get them finished and upload to here as soon as. Some of which may get upload whilst I'm still working on this one so feel free to take a look and tell me what you think. So standard it's not mine Disclaimer_

**_Disclaimer:_**_ I DO NOT OWN Sailor Moon or any of it's characters_

_Ok now that's over, lets get on with it shall we :-)_

* * *

><p><strong>1, 2, 3 Be with Me<strong>

**Chapter 10**

After a long night of celebrating everyone had pretty much slept where they fell apart from Serena's parents who retired to bed early in the evening. With his eyes still comfortably shut Darien swore he could smell the delicious scent of bacon and eggs drifting down the basement stair. All too soon Darien's slumber was disturbed by a big slobbery tongue licking his face and opened his eyes to find Sammy looking back at him wagging his tail happily.

Sitting up in his make shift bed on the couch, Darien stroked the loveable dog and looked over to the couch opposite him to find the couch was empty. Serena had fallen asleep pretty early during their festivities and instead of waking her they decided to let her sleep. Figuring she was the source of the smell, Darien got up off the couch shirtless and all and walked to kitchen upstairs. What he saw in the kitchen made Darien stop in his tracks and shake his head in amusement.

There stood in the kitchen was Serena dressed in casual, pink velvet tracksuit bottoms and a white t-shirt with the words 'Dancing Queen' on the front written in pink glittery letters showing just an inch of the smooth alabaster skin of her stomach and pink snow booty style slippers lined with white fleece as she danced around the kitchen whilst cooking breakfast with the radio blasting out some club dance tunes. All too soon Sammy interrupted Serena's little dance session by running over to her and standing up on his hind legs whilst resting his front paws on her shoulders as if to join in.

Startled by Sammy's sudden appearance Serena couldn't help but laugh out loud only to hear a much deeper voice laughing in the door way. Turning to face the kitchen door, Serena saw Darien in all his shirtless glory standing there laughing at the little scene she made with her dog. Serena lovingly petted her dog before pushing him back down to the floor and looked up to look at Darien still standing in the doorway.

"_Why does he have to be topless, a chest like that is almost criminal on any girl's heart it's so distracting...better not look at it...try looking somewhere else"_ Serena thought trying so hard not to stare at Darien's well toned body.

Walking over to Darien Serena pouted in mock annoyance "How come you always turn up when my back is turned?"

Darien smirked "How come you've always got your back turned when I come in the room?"

"I asked first" Serena laughed

Darien shrugged with an amused smile "I asked second, what's your point?"

Giggling at his response, Serena turned towards the kettle as she asked over her shoulder "Touché! How'd you sleep? I hope you guys weren't too uncomfortable sleeping on those couches last night"

Darien came and stood close beside her leaning on the counter and said "Actually I slept pretty well until I felt Sammy's slobbery tongue on my face"

"Oh so that's why you're up?" Serena laughed "how much later did you guys stay up anyway?"

"Late! Yates got it into his head that he could beat anyone at Call of Duty Black Ops so we kind of had a five hour gaming session" Darien chuckled and gratefully accepted the cup of coffee Serena placed in front of him

Serena looked at him in shock "Five Hours? How are you not still asleep?" she laughed

"How are you awake? I thought that after yesterday you'd definitely be sleeping in Miss national champion!" Darien said tickling Serena in the sides.

Serena laughed as she squirmed away from Darien's merciless fingers "I don't tend to sleep a lot the day after a competition I still feel really hyped up, hence the reason I'm now making breakfast whilst dancing to the radio. By the way feel free to sit and eat something there's plenty of food"

Turning to look at the breakfast bar, Darien's mouth dropped as he saw a full spread of bacon, eggs, sausages, pancakes, beans, cereals and waffles spread over the counter with plates set out around it. Just as Darien sat gawking, Yates, Seiya, Mina and Taylor all came through the kitchen door "Dude I thought I could smell something good" Yates said still sniffing the air as he moved to sit at the breakfast bar with the others in tow.

Mina turned as she sat rubbing sleep from her eyes, and giggled "Darien you might want to get over here and get some food before Yates and his band here scoff everything"

"Hey this is what I call a reward for kicking everyone's ass at Call of Duty and Halo last night!" Yates said puffing his chest out with pride "For shame dudes and you call yourselves men!"

Serena laughed as Mina said "You call yourself a man yet you packed yourself in a guitar bag, after cutting arms holes, legs holes and a face hole in it and lay in the trunk of my car!"

"Yeah that still counts because I looked totally hot in that guitar bag! If anything the bag looked that much better for being worn by me" Yates said as the rest of the table looked over pictures of Yates wearing the guitar bag in the trunk of Mina's car, laughing all the while.

"But not half as good as you looked in that sweater Grandma sent in the mail for our birthday last month" Mina said with a teasing smirk

Yates shuddered "You mean the demon possessed sweater with the Chuckie doll knitted on the front?"

Everyone around the table just laughed as Yates said with a serious tone "No guys I'm serious that thing is evil looking, I can't even keep the thing in my closet without flinching and the last time I wore that thing out in public I honest to God made a woman scream just by wearing a sweater!"

The laughing just got harder as Yates went into a full story about how he'd worn the monster sweater out shopping with his Grandma on her request that he wear it. They were walking through the supermarket and a young woman was in the vegetable aisle across from them when she looked up, saw the sweater and just plain started screaming her lungs out for the whole supermarket to hear. "I swear dude the security guards we're looking at me as if I'd tried to kill the woman when all she did was take a look at my sweater"

By now every one of his friends was either on the floor or leaning with their head down on the table crying with laughter at the image of Yates actually scaring a woman and getting in trouble with supermarket security for wearing an ugly sweater. The banter around the table continued as they heartily ate their breakfast feast.

* * *

><p>After spending most of the morning sharing laughs and good conversation over breakfast, Mina, Yates and the guys went their separate ways with Mina and Yates being the last ones to leave.<p>

"I'll talk to you on the phone a little later" Mina said giving her best friend and cousin a hug goodbye "And by the way Tommy told me to tell you you've got the day off!"

Serena looked at Mina in surprise "What? But it's my shift this Sunday I checked last week"

"What can I tell you he must have seen you win yesterday" Mina said with a shrug before hugging Serena with a smile "besides now you have a free weekend you can spend it with that hottie over there" Mina whispered gesturing to Darien who was saying goodbye to Yates.

Blushing slightly, Serena poked Mina in the side to stop her from staring admiringly at Darien's body and said "Oh My Gosh Mina! Stop that he'll catch you staring"

"Yeah right like you don't wanna look" Mina giggled "I saw your eyes trying to look anywhere but at his chest at breakfast, admit it"

Both turning to look at Darien's well toned back, Serena and Mina let their eyes travel up and down Darien's body before Serena turned away covering her face with her hands. Mina merely giggled again "See!"

"Ugh! Ok you got me but don't tell him" Serena moaned "we're only just getting to know each other again and I don't want him thinking of me as some kind of pervert"

Mina shrugged "I won't tell him but you should have seen the way he was staring at you on that ice yesterday"

Serena shook her head still holding her face in her hands "I know he must have thought it was so...wait...what?"

As Mina and Serena stood gossiping and giggling, Darien was filling Yates in on the incident with his car and how the tires failed on him moments after leaving his drive way.

"It's really weird I checked those tires like a hundred times over and they were fine when I went in my house" Darien said perplexed by the sudden incident

Yates asked in a serious tone "You think someone might have tampered with em?"

Darien shook his head "I can't think of anyone who would, although…"

"Although what dude?" Yates asked

Darien looked at Yates with a serious glance "I did get a call from a friend yesterday, there's a girl at my school that keeps following my friends and me around, and apparently she was harassing my friends about me yesterday"

Yates said "This girl got a thing for ya Darien?"

"I guess she does, but she is really not my type" Darien said with a shuddered

Yates nodded with a chuckle "Yeah I think I know who your type is bro, the kind of girl with really long, blonde hair, big blue eyes, usually find her skating…you know…on ice!"

Darien's face flushed bright red as he stuttered "It's not like that really…I mean…I can't right…we've only seen each other again for like 5 minutes….I mean she's special…but it can't be like that"

"Darien and Serena kissing in a tree K-I-S-S-I-N-G hahahaha" Yates said in a sing song voice before having Darien's hand clamp over his mouth "Dude lower the decibels would ya, she'll hear you"

Yates laughed and said "Look dude, if this stalker chick you were talking about has some serious crazy in her; no doubt she was probably the one to slash your wheels. I knew a chick once that went out with Seiya who used to sneak back stage and steal his water bottles and junk, started off as just small stuff but then one night he came home to find she'd broke into his house and was laying on his bed in nothing but her underwear"

Darien cringed at the idea of finding Beryl half naked on his bed "Ugh! I hate to think she'd go that far"

Yates nodded seriously "Some girls do crazy stuff to try and get a guy to like her, if this stalker chick of yours is really into you; chances are she won't just stop at tires to stop you hookin up with other girls Darien"

Seeing the girls still talking, Yates groaned "Aw Dude! They talk for like EVER! I need my couch! time to do some serious bustin up!" with that Yates climbed into the front seat and started beeping the horn.

Just as Mina was about to go into more detail with Serena about Darien, she heard Yates beeping the horn as he called over "Mina if you don't hurry up and get your butt over here I am soooo stealing your car!"

Racing to the door Mina cried "Try it and this time you'll be in my trunk in a body bag!"

"And I'd make that look smoking hot too even if I'm dead!" Yates called back making everyone laugh as he called back "Now hurry up! The couch and TV are calling my name!"

"Alright! I'm coming!" Mina rolled her eyes turning to Serena and Darien as she huffed "Jeez take a moment to say goodbye and I get aggro!"

Getting into her car Mina waved to Serena and Darien as she said "Ok you two have fun today! Call you later Serena bye!"

Waving goodbye to her two cousins, Serena and Darien turned tentatively to look at each other sharing a somewhat anxious laugh before they turned to each other to speak. Just before either one of them could speak a word the cheery, twinkling jingle of Serena's ringtone was heard coming from her back pocket. Startled by the sudden ringing of her phone Serena sighed in relief "_Saved by the bell...well cell actually... but that was getting to a whole new level of awkward"_

Taking the cell phone out of her pocket Serena answered with a cheery "Hello?"

An ever familiar soft, quiet voice reached her ears "Hi Serena? It's me Amy"

"Amy! Hi how are you?" Serena asked happily gesturing to Darien to follow her into the house.

Amy sighed "Um not so good at the moment, you see I've got a problem and...well I know you're in the next town over but...the girls...they were all busy and...well...I just need someone to talk too"

Serena giggled "Well of course you can always talk to me Amy, I mean I may not physically be there but I can still listen, what's up?"

Amy sighed "Well I think this problem is a little to 'in-depth' to talk about over the phone but I completely understand if you're busy, I mean I know Darien was coming to stay with you this weekend and I don't want to intrude on you two"

"Aw Amy you're not intruding at all, if anything I've got some news to tell you all and I've now got the day off work"

Darien's curiosity grew a little as he saw Serena nodding and smiling. Gesturing countless time for her to tell him what Amy was talking to her about, Darien finally heard Serena say her goodbyes, hang up the phone and then run to the stairs. Darien raced after her and called after her "Um Hello? Still here! What was all that about?"

Running back down the stair Serena turned Darien around and started steering him towards the guest house stairs "No time to chat Shields, plans have been made!"

"Plans have been made, huh?" Darien asked with a laugh at her attempts of push him towards the stairs when he planted his feet firmly against the floor so she couldn't move him "For what exactly?"

Serena rolled her eyes "For a field trip! Now move your fanny up those stairs and get ready!"

Laughing at yet another attempt to push him forwards, Darien challenged "Tell me where were going and I might go and get ready"

"Ugh! Still using the same stupid tactics to get what you want huh Ladies Man?" Serena shook her head giggling

Darien started leaning back against Serena's hands pushing her back slightly and said "Ok again just to clarify I'm not a Ladies Man! And no I only did that when I wanted something out of you...still works then huh?"

"No!" Serena laughed "Now move it! You'll find out once you've got some clothes! Get your butt up those stairs we're wasting time!"

Sighing dramatically Darien straightened up and said "Ok I'm going, which car are we using?

"Your one!" Serena called up the stairs after him "Meet you by your Chick Magnet car in ten minutes Ladies Man!"

"It's not a Chick Magnet, it's just a kickass car in a 'real pretty colour'" Darien called back giving his best girl impression

With their playful banter all but done for the moment Serena ran up to her room to throw on some clothes.

* * *

><p>A few minutes later Darien stood waiting by his Red BMW, in casual washed out denim jeans, black vest and an open white, short sleeved shirt. He stood leaning on his open car door when he turned to see Serena start to walk towards the car. Yet again he found it hard not to stare as she walked towards him in a white, studded, split sleeve top, a pair of slim jeans and white peep toe sling back sandal adorned her feet with gem centred corsages on the front.<p>

A white glam ring bag was slung casually over her shoulder and her beautiful blonde hair was pinned up in a stylish messy updo with slender tendrils of golden curls framing her lovely face. So entranced by Serena's lovely appearance he didn't notice her waving her hand right in front of his face "Yoo Hoo Earth to Darien, Hellooo!"

Shaking out of his dazed state Darien just merely answered "Huh?"

Serena laughed "I said, Amy just sent me a message she's waiting for us so we've got to get going, hurry up and get in the passenger's seat"

"Whoa! Back up a second, you think your driving my car? My BMW" Darien asked shaking his head as if hearing her wrong

Serena smiled "Well yes, that was the idea of you sitting in the passenger's seat"

Darien shook his head vigorously as he said "Nuh uh hunny! Just like there are rules in your car there are rules in mine, rule number one being...no one drives this car except Moi"

"Oh come on Darien! Just let me test drive it once, it'll be fun" Serena asked sweetly, a cute little pout on her lips.

All too soon Darien swung Serena over his shoulder and physically placed her in the passenger's seat, with her squealing and giggling the whole time. Shutting the door, Darien raced around to the driver's seat before Serena could scoot over "Nice try! No one drives but me!"

"Aw Darien your no fun, what happened to the daring, risk taker you used to be as a kid huh?" Serena asked with a wink

Darien chuckled "He still exists just not in this car! Last time I followed your rules because we were in your car, today it's my car and my rules, you got that Miss National Champ"

"Fine! On one condition!" Serena said giggling as Darien started shaking his head "Just one little condition Darien it's not going to kill you! Please"

Darien saw the ever familiar puppy dog eyes being directed his way and turned away "Aw! Don't do that!"

"Pwetty Pwease, I'll be good the rest of the trip" Serena gushed still keeping her shining blue puppy eyes on Darien

Glancing to look at her, Darien took one look at her eyes and just caved "Ugh! Fine! What is it?"

Sitting up straight in her seat with a triumphant smile, Serena giggled as she pointed to the soft top of Darien's car and said "Radio on and top down all the way, the weather is WAY too good for a soft top roof"

"Done! So where are we going on this little trip anyway?" Darien asked

Serena took a pair of butterfly framed glasses and placed them on her face as she said "All in good time Darien, besides I'm pretty sure you'll figure it out before we even get there. Now come on times a-wastin! Let's go!"

With that Darien put the car into first gear and let the soft top down, then with the radio blaring out they raced off into the early afternoon sun.

* * *

><p>After hanging up the phone, Amy stood outside of the Crescent Valley Library waiting for Serena to come and pick her up like she had promised on the phone. She slowly paced outside of the entrance to the library as she thought over the events from this morning.<p>

"_I can't believe this has started up again, I mean the other girls aren't being bothered like this again...and even if they were they can handle it they always could...but why me?...and why now of all times... we haven't had this sort of thing since were about 12 years old why all of a sudden has it started up again now" _Amy thought frantically

Just then the beep of a car horn brought Amy back out of her thoughts, as she turned to find a flashy red BMW parked at the curb in front of her with none other than a bemused looking Darien sitting in the driver's seat and a very smiley Serena getting out of the car to greet her.

Taking her best friend into a bear hug Amy gushed "Oh My Gosh! You have no idea how good it is to see you! I don't know what else to do"

"He he don't worry about it Amy, you know you can come to me with anything" Serena smiled as she pulled back to look at her friend properly "So it's been a while, where's the best place for something sweet and some girl talk"

"The Crescent Valley Bowling Alley is the only place I can think of for sweet stuff" Amy giggled "But what about Darien? Won't he get bored"

"Pfft! Please after getting his panties in a bunch about me driving his precious car, Darien is officially an honorary girl!" Serena laughed

"I heard that!" Darien called over gaining a laugh from both girls "And anyway I've had to put up with you and Mina gossiping most of the morning, what's one more hour?"

Serena and Amy looked at each other with an amused look as they got into Darien's car. It was then that Amy turned to Darien and said "Well actually, maybe you can help with my problem as well Darien"

Darien glanced at Amy through his rear-view mirror in surprised as he stuttered "you...you want my help...with a problem"

"Well yeah...it's kind of hard to explain but I'm hoping you can explain what's happening here because I really don't understand it and its starting to drive me crazy!" Amy stressed

Serena looked at her friend in concern "It must be really bad for you to be this stressed about it Amy, what's going on?"

Amy sighed heavily "Well it's like this..."

* * *

><p>After hiding out all afternoon trying to avoid Beryl, Jed, Nathan and Malcolm all decided to jump into Jed's car and head over to their usually hangout spot at the bowling alley. They had asked Zach to join them but Jed and Nathan were a little bit suspicious about the answer he'd given them.<p>

"Dude I swear Zach was acting really weird" Jed said turning to the guys as he spoke "I mean what was with the whispering"

Malcolm sighed "He was in the library Jed; it doesn't take a genius to figure that out, seeing as he told you himself when you asked him where he was"

Nathan shook his head "No way Malcolm I'm with Jed on this one, there's whispering to be quiet and then there's whispering so you don't get caught, why else do you think he was in such a hurry to get off the phone"

"Maybe he was studying, you know what Zach and homework is like" Malcolm shrugged not thinking much into it "They go together like Macaroni and Cheese, he goes there all the time"

Nathan nodded "Yes I guess your right but it's weird recently it's like he'll be staring off into space one minute and then the next its 'oh sorry guys just remembered I've got some studying to do, catch ya later' come on dude even you've got to admit that's kind of weird"

Malcolm couldn't deny that Zach had been spending more and more time in the town library but again that seemed like a normal occurrence to him it had never seemed out of the ordinary before. Although as Malcolm thought over the last few weeks, Zach had been disappearing to the school library more and more lately during lunch and morning break times, "_it's almost like he was sneaking off for something...or someone_" Malcolm thought.

Just as the guys we're coming up to turn into the bowling alley car park, they saw Darien's ever familiar red BMW pull into the parking lot ahead of them. Not only did they notice Darien's car but they also noticed that he had two girls in the car with him. One of which they knew as Amy Mizuno the girl genius from their school, but the blonde in the front with Darien they couldn't quite recognise.

Jed smirked "Dude I think we might have just found out who Darien's been hookin up with"

Nathan shared a smirk of his own with Jed "You thinkin, what I'm thinkin?"

"I'm... thinking we should probably go somewhere else you know" Malcolm said hurriedly "Maybe the Harpy Trio are in there I really don't want to be around for when that kind of drama kicks off, do you?"

"No way Malcolm" Nathan protested "He's been holding out on us for way too long, time to do a little 'coincidental' run in on Darien and his new chick!"

Finding a parking spot only two spaces down from where Darien was parked, Jed, Nathan and Malcolm followed them into the bowling alley.

* * *

><p><em>Author's note<em>_:_

_Lol :-P I'm starting to have a little fun with this story lol. So what'll happen next? What's going on with Amy? And where has Zach been disappearing too? Will Beryl bust in on this little visit by Serena? Things are getting interesting! ;-) keep reading_


	13. Chapter 11

_Author's Note:_

_Hey Guys and Gals ^_^ Another chapter read for reading, just trying to see if I can keep it interesting but move things on a little quicker coz I've still got alot I want to put in but not too much :-) Hope your still enjoying it. _

**_Disclaimer: _**_Ok guys you know the drill just need to clarify that Sailor Moon and it's wonderful characters were not created or in anyway developed by me. **I DO NOT OWN SAILOR MOON**_

_So on with the show:_

* * *

><p><strong>1,2,3 Be With Me<strong>

**Chapter 11**

After Serena and Darien had picked Amy up from in front of the town library, she took a deep breath and started to tell them about her current problem.

"Well you see, do you remember when I used to get picked on in the library Serena?" Amy asked tentatively, sudden overly aware of Darien sitting in the driver's seat.

Serena nodded in concern with a slight sideways glance at Darien as well "Yeah I remember is it the same guy as last time?"

Amy merely nodded her head in answer to Serena's question, Serena asked "Is he still being mean to you and calling you names like last time?"

Unlike the last question, Amy shook her head in response and said "That's the part that's annoyingly confusing, I mean at least when he was calling me names and throwing rolled up papers at me I knew for sure he was doing it maliciously but this time he just follows me around and sometimes even sit at the same table a few spaces away as if to torment me with just his mere presents"

"Just out of curiosity who is this guy you're talking about? Do I know him?" Darien asked, a little too aware at their lame attempts at being vague.

Amy hesitated as she said "Well...to be honest...yes...you do know him"

Darien looked at Amy with concern "Do you know his name? I can deal with this guy if he's giving you a hard time Amy"

With her eyes wide and shining in surprise, Amy asked "You...you would do that?"

"Damn straight I would" Darien said outright "It's just plain cowardly for a guy to pick on girls!..That and we're cool with each other now right...you girls and I aren't we?"

Amy smiled shyly and nodded "Yes, I guess we are"

"So come on who is this guy? What's his name?" Darien asked again frowning at the thought of someone picking on this girl who he now considered a friend.

Amy cleared her throat nervously and said something softly under her breath. Darien looked at her in his rear-view mirror and asked "Sorry, I didn't catch that, who did you say?"

Clearing her throat again Amy took a deep breath and said "It's Zach!"

Pulling into the parking lot of the bowling alley, Darien turned to Amy with a shocked look on his face as he asked "Zach? As in my little know it all friend, Zach? He's the one giving you a hard time?"

Merely nodding her head, Amy bowed her head nervously as she went on to explain "He always gave me such a hard time at school, sometimes he'd even follow me to the library just to torment me"

_Flashback_

_It was a rainy spring afternoon outside of the classroom window, and a 12 year old Amy had already long since finished all of her class assignments for the day. She sat at her desk by the window, her books neatly stored away in her book bag as she sat reading a mathematics text book quietly to herself._

_Not too far back, she could hear faint whispering at the back of the classroom not too far away from where she was sitting._

"_Psht! Check it out guys, looks like that Bookworm finished ahead of everyone again!"came the cold, cruel voice_

_Another voice soon followed "Yeah I mean what is it with that nerd linger and books what is she obsessed or something?"_

_A third voice said "No wonder she always sits alone in the Library! Stupid dork only has books for her friends"_

_Amy felt the sting of their words and tried to hold back her tears as she heard the bell for afternoon lunch ring throughout the class room._

_Grabbing her books, Amy barely had time to listen to what their teacher was telling them about an upcoming test as she ran from the classroom and with haste started making her way towards the only place she knew she would be ok, the school library. Walking in Amy went to the tables at the far back of the library. It was peaceful, quiet and mostly empty because of the time of afternoon._

_Settling down at a table with her books, Amy lay her head in her hands as the cruel words of her classmates rang through her mind. Just then she felt some crumpled up papers hit the back of her head as the same cruel voice from before startled her from behind "Aww! Bookworm Baby come in here to cry! Cry about this baby loser! Ha ha ha!"_

_Covering her head with her hands, Amy felt tears run down her soft little cheeks as she cried "Stop it! Just leave me alone!"_

_Just before he could torment her any longer the librarian came along to see what all the commotion was about and saw what was going on "Zach! I swear boy if you don't leave that girl alone I will have you in that Principal's office faster than you can say the word bookworm again you hear me! Now get out of this library pronto, you banned from here!"He scowled, taking a then 12 year old Zach by the arm and escorting him to the door._

_Snatching his arm free, Zach snapped "Yeah ok, I'm going jeez! Didn't want to hang out in bookworm baby headquarters anyway!" and with that he stormed out, leaving a timid, shy little, with her head laid against the table as her tears fell upon the books she loved so much._

_End of Flashback_

"After that I'd try to find other places where I could sit and read my books but it was no use" Amy spoke with a sad soft tone at the painful memories of her school life.

Darien couldn't help feeling guilty all over again, the thought that his friends had done such cruel things to these girls as kids really didn't bode well for them. Especially as three of them now wanted to know said girls more than ever. Sighing in disappointment for his friend, Darien turned in his seat and said "Amy I'm so sorry that happened to you but I can promise you Zach isn't like that anymore, he's really grown a lot since then"

"Then can you tell me why he's started following me again?" Amy asked almost desperately "He hasn't really done it since we entered high school, if anything the torment seemed to get boring for him when I hit thirteen but by then I had so many extra academic activities I barely noticed after that"

"Does he follow you everywhere Amy?" Serena asked in concern for her friend, who was obviously still a little distressed by the fact that she was being followed by her old school bully.

Amy said thoughtfully "Well no, he doesn't follow me everywhere, he mostly follows me to the library, both at school and to the public library after school, I sometimes go there to tutor other kids from different schools in various districts of town but it can be really hard to concentrate on what I'm supposed to be tutoring when all I can feel are his eyes on me"

"And you said Zach doesn't do the same mean things he did before?" Serena asked, with Darien listening in intently beside her

"Well to be honest that's the part that has me frustratingly confused" Amy answered

_Flashback to Earlier this afternoon_

_It was around midday in the Crescent Valley town library and Amy had just finished one of her usual tutoring sessions for that afternoon and was doing some leisurely reading at a table in the centre of the library._

_A test was due the following week in trigonometry and Amy was really enjoying learning about all of the various equations for said test, when she saw movement out of the corner of her eye. Glancing over the top of her book, Amy couldn't help but notice Zach, her old tormentor from school sitting only two seats away just opposite from where she was sitting._

_Feeling anxiety and her own nerves start to build up, Amy silently thought to herself 'Calm down Amy, it's a public library maybe he's just come here to study too...just breath, relax and go back to your studying'_

_And that's what she did! Amy went back to reading her book as quietly as she had been before, but every so often she couldn't help but feel his eyes on her, and when Amy would look over to try and catch him out, Zach would shift his eyes back to the book he was reading, which unbeknownst to him, was upside down._

_Feeling a little unnerved by this sort of attention, Amy soon moved from her seat to put her book back and retrieve another one from the many shelves in the library. Whilst she was walking around, Amy couldn't help but feel somebody following not too far behind her. Turning into the nearest aisle, Amy looked up at the shelves and found herself in the history section. Running her slender finger along the many book spines in front of her, Amy soon pulled out a book on ancient Greek Mythology and began to flick through the pages stopping at various pages of interest. _

_Although she used this as a method of distraction, Amy still couldn't shake the feeling that she was being watched by her old school nemesis. Again she would look over at him whenever she felt he was watching her but when she looked in Zach's direction he would avert his eyes to the book in his hand as if trying to hide from her._

_Finally completely unnerved by this behaviour, Amy placed the book back on the shelf and hurried out of the library as fast as she could, looking back every so often to make sure he wasn't following her away from the library._

_End of Flashback_

"And that's what made me call you today Serena" Amy said with a heavy sigh "I don't understand why he's following me, he's been doing this for quite a while now and I just don't know why? Have I done something to offend him or something? Is he just out to torment me again? I don't know!"

Serena and Darien exchanged a look and shared a slight giggle as Darien asked "So he hasn't actually tried talking to you yet?"

"Talking? No, he never talks he just follows me around, like some crazed stalker, it's really making me uneasy" Amy said with a miserable little pout

Serena giggled "Um...Amy...I don't think this is something you should be worried about"

Darien nodded in agreement "I mean yeah it's weird he's just stalking you from one library to the next but I'm with Serena on this one, he's not trying to torment you"

Amy couldn't help the confused expression that marred her lovely face as she asked "Then why is he doing it then?"

Serena couldn't help but giggled as Darien explained bemusedly "I can't really tell you much as I'm his friend and he should really be telling you himself but I have it on good authority to say this Amy, Zach doesn't hate you"

"Real...Really, you think?" Amy stuttered out in surprise

Nodding her head, Serena said "I can second that Amy, from the sounds of things he's not following you out of spite or any negative reason, he just probably doesn't know how to approach you after the whole 'library bully' episode of yester school"

Still looking uncertain, Amy looked to Serena for some more reassurance only for Serena to get out of Darien's car and move her seat forward for Amy to get out "Come on, let's go inside and you can tell us a little more about it"

"Yeah, I really want to hear what kind of stuff Zach has been doing!" Darien laughed before getting out of the driver's seat and moving to stand next to Serena "Come on let's go get something to eat"

With that Darien, Serena and Amy all got out of the car and made their way into the bowling alley. Little did they know another group of certain eavesdropping friends were following closed behind them.

* * *

><p>Following behind Darien and the two girls he had with him, Jed, Nathan and Malcolm snuck into the booth just behind the one they usually occupied. They sat and listened in as Amy told Darien and his mystery girl about Zach and the details about him following her around during lunch breaks at school, after school and even on weekends. They had to stifle their laughter as Amy went on to explain about how at one point she was coming out of the girl's changing room after swim class and saw him walking off in the other direction as if he'd just stepped out from behind the door.<p>

"I'm serious you two its bordering mad stalker syndrome, it's not funny!" Amy said with an annoyed expression, her hands on her hips as the other two laid crippled in laughter opposite her.

Darien laughed "I'm sorry Amy but this is just golden, Zach's never done anything like that in front of me and the other guys he'd sooner be caught dead then lingering outside the girl's changing rooms in front of us"

Serena giggled wiping a tear of laughter from her eye as she said "I'm just laughing thinking that any guy would do that kind of thing"

"Well he was! He was there! I don't know how long for but he was definitely there" Amy quipped with a roll of her eyes

Unaware that his three best friends were sniggering in the booth behind them, Darien was surprised to hear a very familiar voice say "So you did sneak into old territory!"

Turning with eyes full of laughter...well and Amy still very confused and frustrated...Serena, Darien and Amy turned to find Raye and Lita standing in front of their booth table.

"Raye! Lita!" Serena squealed happily hugging her best friends

Lita laughed "Serena you did only see us like a week ago"

"Yeah but this is kind of the first time in a while I've come back to see you girls" Serena winked

Amy smiled slightly "I thought you girls were working this weekend"

Lita sat next to Amy in the booth as she said "We were but I got off work early due to the ovens breaking down and Raye's grandma and cousin Chad got back early so she got to come back too, then we got a call from Mina saying that Serena was in town so we figured eventually you would come here"

"It's awesome that you girls are back!" Serena smiled brightly "I've got some really big news to tell you all...well Darien already knows so he doesn't count" giggling at the sham shocked look Darien gave her Serena carried on "but I'm excited to get to tell you girls this"

Raye smirked as she folded her arms across her chest "Well we'd gladly like to hear everything you have to tell us Serena, but first I've got to ask, Darien?"

Stepping back to the booth behind theirs Raye looked at the seat behind Darien and asked "What are your Jerk ass friends doing hiding behind you?"

"Huh?" Darien exclaimed with a genuine shocked expression.

The shock cleared as Jed, Malcolm and Nathan all came out of hiding from behind Darien's seat at their usual booth and just shrugged their shoulders as Jed "Bound to get caught eventually"

"What are you doing here?" Darien asked in a slightly anxious manner

Nathan raised a slender eyebrow in a sarcastic manner and started explaining in a comedic fashion "Well Darien, on Sundays, when people get bored of going to church or doing homework or whatever boring crap you do on Sunday, they come here to this thing called a bowling alley in order to play games, eat junk food and have what we crazy kids call fun"

"Something we usually do together, including you but what happened to that...oh yeah you ditched us to hang out somewhere else" Jed said teasingly before putting on a mock hurt expression "we just don't see each other anymore Darien, I'm starting to think you might...you know break up with us"

In comedic fashion, Jed clung to Nathan letting out on fake sob after another as Nathan laughed as Malcolm shook his head and mumbled "Dude that was way too much girl for someone so male"

Darien chuckled at Malcolm "Glad I'm not the only one that thinks he's a woman!"

Before any of the banter between the boys could continue, Darien felt a slender hand land on his shoulder and turned to see Serena smiling politely at him as she said "Sorry Darien me and the girls are just going to um..."

"We're going to find a table somewhere else" Raye cut in

Lita nodded as they got up to find another table "Yeah, no offence to you or anything Darien but I think we'll just let you hang with your friends whilst we go and chat somewhere else ok? Later"

As Darien was about to try and stop them, Jed stepped forward and placed his hand lightly on Raye's shoulder "Hey hold up a minute, you don't have to move, we can all hang out here I mean there's enough room for everyone right?"

Raye turned on Jed with a scowl on her face "And what makes you think that I'd want to hang out with someone like you?"

"Better question babe is why wouldn't you want to hang out with someone like me?" Jed replied with a cocky raise of his eyebrow

Raye felt her temper rising faster and faster at his cocky attitude as she hissed out "I could count the number of reasons but tere are children still present and we'd be here all night so instead I'm just going to take my friends and sit somewhere else!"

Turning to leave, the girls were again stopped, this time Nathan taking hold of Lita's wrist "Come on girls, you don't have to move away from us, let's just hang out together"

Lita laughed bitterly as she snatched her wrist back "Now you want to get to know us huh?"

Darien rolled his eyes as he thought to himself "_Oh boy! Here comes that bad water again!"_

Getting ready to step into the all too heated argument that was about to flare up, Darien turned his attention to Malcolm. Pushing his way in front of his friends, Malcolm put two fingers to his mouth and gave the sharpest, loudest whistle that silenced everyone.

"Cut it out! Seriously you guys are worse than when we were kids" Malcolm said

Raye's tempered flared again as she shot out "Don't you dare lump us with those two, or with you for that matter!"

"Yeah you guys have absolutely no right to ask anything from us now, not after the way you treated us when we were younger!" Lita shot at him

Malcolm sighed with a roll of his eyes "Ok fine we were jerks to you when we were younger, we're aware of that, but we're all older now, obviously a little more mature...well me and Darien yeah I'm not sure about these two" Malcolm chuckled gesturing to Jed and Nathan

Jed and Nathan said simultaneously "Hey!"

Darien stood by the table laughing as Malcolm continued "And from what we just heard about Zach I think maybe he still has some growing up to do"

Amy hid her face in her hands in embarrassment as Serena took her into a sympathetic bear hug. Malcolm couldn't help but chuckle at her reaction as he said "So, seeing as we've all grown up a bit and are clearly ready to move past whatever happened before, can't we just...you know...start over?"

Extending a hand towards Raye, Malcolm waited patiently for one of them to accept his small truce. Lita had completely turned their back to them all, Raye had turned slightly away from him as well and Amy was still suffering the embarrassment of being overheard talking about Zach following her around. Looking between her friends and then to Malcolm, Serena couldn't help feeling a little hesitant herself as she remembered all the times they used to bully her as well.

Looking at Malcolm now, Serena shifted her gaze from his extended hand to his eyes. The same eyes that used to hold a frightening ice cold gaze now showed a soft, apologetic expression as they looked upon her. Turning to Darien for reassurance, she saw him smile back at her with a nod of his head and that's all it took.

Stepping to the head of her group of friends, Serena stood in front of her friends with a guarded and almost protective stance as she looked at Malcolm. Looking at her properly for the first time in four years, Jed nudged Nathan said "Dude she is so hot!"

"Yeah is that what it takes for you guys to actually like us? We've got to look good to you is that it?" Raye shot back

Malcolm whistled again to silence them "I swear I will stick you guys in a corner if you don't button it!" Turning back to Serena, Malcolm gazed upon her apologetically as he said "Serena...Silvers right? The one who lived across from Darien as a kid"

Merely nodding her head, Serena looked at Malcolm with the same guarded expression as he said "Look I know this is a bit late coming but I'm really sorry for the things I did to you back then, I was a stupid little kid who did and said stupid things trying to look cool"

Serena's guard dropped drastically as she saw the sincerity in his apology as Malcolm continued "I can't speak for these other two but I know now what I did to you was hurtful and to your friends here as well, but I've grown up a lot since then, we all have and if you'll let us we'd like a chance to...you know...get to know you and your friends"

Again Malcolm extended his hand towards her and as she extended her hand towards Malcolm's, Both Jed and Nathan extended their own hands to her as well. Looking at them both, Serena could see the same apologetic expression in the both of them as she had seen in Malcolm.

Jed sighed "We were real dicks to you as kids"

Nathan nodded "We got too wrapped up in wanting to be cool, think you can forgive a couple of idiots like us?"

Giggling at their choice of words, Serena shook their hands individually and said "I think I can manage that"

Lita and Raye exclaimed "What?"

Turning Serena to face her Amy asked "Serena are you sure this is the right thing to do? These creeps could turn on you again in a matter of seconds"

Nodding with a smile Serena said "We've got to move on at some point Amy and you know me, if they're genuinely sorry who am I to say no"

Amy smiled at her friend's forgiving nature "I suppose your right"

Jed exclaimed happily as he settled into his seat at the booth "Awesome! So let's get back to the topic of Zach the stalker"

"I can't believe you were listening in on that" Amy said with a face in a nice shade of red "How much did you hear?"

Malcolm, Nathan and Jed chuckled "Everything!"

"Following you to the bathroom" Jed chimed in

Nathan added "sitting five rows back from you in the stands at lunch"

"Following you to the library both during and after school" Malcolm laughed

Darien laughed the whole time they were listing Zach's stalker actions as Raye and Lita gasped "Zach's been following you?"

And with that the banter continued long into the evening with the boys asking more about the girls, eventually with Jed and Nathan sitting with Raye and Lita to try and get closer to them. Malcolm on the other hand talked with Serena in depth about her new life in St Artemis.

* * *

><p>All too soon it was time for Serena to go home and for the guys to go their separate way from them as well.<p>

"It was cool to hang out with you girls, we should do this again sometime" Nathan said with a shrug

Serena smiled "Maybe you guys can come visit next time with Darien, I'm sure he and Yates will want to take you to Crownz as soon as he can get you there"

Darien gasped "Dude I cannot believe I forgot to tell you about this place! Next time you are coming with and you will see this place for yourselves!"

Jed chuckled "What? Better than our bowling alley? No way!"

"You right it's not just better...it's like a thousand times better!" Darien exclaimed excitedly "I would go into it at length but I still need to take Serena home, so I will be taking you on a little road trip in the next week"

The girls laughed as they saw the guys gasp and started harassing Darien for more information on Crownz when Serena laughed "Ugh! And they think girls are bad with gossiping!"

Just as Serena was about to break up what eventually turned into a bromance session, the slight jingle of her phone sounded from her handbag. Answering it, Serena was greeted by the sound of her mother's voice "Hey Serena, honey where are you? It's going on 10pm"

Serena apologised "Sorry Mom, I was intending to come home at an earlier time but Darien bumped into his friends and we got talking"

Serenity chuckled "That's ok, just make sure to get home really soon you've got school in the morning"

"Don't worry mom, I'm just doing some bromance break up therapy now" Serena laughed along with her friends "See you soon bye"

Hanging up the phone, Serena put her phone back in her pocket "Looks like it's time to go home"

"Aww but what about that big news you were going to tell us" Lita asked giving Serena a bear hug

Serena giggled hugging her back "I'll tell you all next time

Amy asked with a giggle"So how do you plan on braking up their little conversation then"

Serena giggled "With these" she opened her hand to reveal Darien's keys and then pointed to his car "And that"

Giggling at Serena's mischievous behaviour, Raye, Amy and Lita made it back to the safety of Raye's ruby red Mustang convertible said they're goodbyes and drove off. As Serena snuck round to Darien's driver's seat, unlocked the door and started beeping the horn "Break it up girls! Gossip session is over!"

Turning in horror, Darien searched his pockets and scowled in Serena's direction "What did I tell you about my car?"

"You said I wasn't allowed to drive it" Serena with a shrug "but I'm not driving, I merely pressed the horn which just so happens to be in the centre of the steering wheel"

The guys watching on couldn't help but laugh at Serena's response as he shook his head and Serena called over "Now hurry it up Shields Mama Silvers is getting worried, she just called asking about where I was"

"Ok I'm coming, just put the keys on the seat and step away from the driver's side of my car" Darien said walking quickly over to redeem his car keys

Serena shook her head as she asked Malcolm, Jed and Nathan "Is he always this much of a girl about his car?"

They replied in unison "Yeah!"

"I am not! I'm just being careful" Darien said in a sham hurt expression

Nathan laughed "Dude there's being careful and there's being girlishly obsessive"

Darien tried to think of a clever response and after a while of trying to come up with one shot back with "Uh...Shut up"

They all laughed as Serena said her goodbyes to the guys and got in Darien's car. Just as they were both settled in and ready to get going, Darien turned the ignition to start the car only for it to cut out shortly after starting. Trying again, Darien turned the key in the ignition and it happened again. "I can't believe this, what the hell is going on?" Darien said irritably as he got out of the car to see what the damage was. Malcolm called over "Darien looks like that oil tank been tampered with"

"Huh?" Darien exclaimed and looked at the floor to find oil was leaking out from under his car.

Darien kicked the bumper in frustration "Damn it! Why does it always have to be my car that takes these hits?"

Malcolm, Jed and Nathan ran over to help with the car as Serena got back out careful not to step in the oil. With her friends already gone, Serena pulled out her phone and called the only person she knew near to where they were "Hi Uncle Damien, sorry to bother you at home so late, but Darien and I were hanging out in Crescent Valley Bowling Alley today and...Well there's been a problem here sir"

* * *

><p>Sitting in Emerald's car not too far back from where Darien and his friends were trying to fix the damage caused, Beryl sat with a cold, jealous scowl on her face as her eyes filled with envy rested mercilessly on the slender blonde standing just off to the left hand side of the car.<p>

"So it wasn't the book worm bitch this time" Beryl hissed bitterly "It was that damn blonde bitch from before! I can't believe he would ever choose her over me!"

Emerald looked anxiously at her friend and said "Look Beryl, I know you're majorly into Darien and everything but if we get caught doing this stuff we are like seriously dead ok? So why don't we get out of here and you can stick to stalking him at school or something"

Turning in her seat, Beryl raged "We will not stop until either Darien is mine or that Blonde bitch is history you got that! Now I want you to..."

Emerald cut Beryl off "Oh shit! It's Mr Shield's car!"

Turning to look in the area that Emerald was looking in, Beryl started to panic "Shit! Quick get us out of here"

Slowly pulling out of the parking lot so as not to draw attention to themselves, Emerald sped towards home as Beryl sat seething with anger and jealousy "_I may have been thrown off this time but you better believe it blonde bitch you've got another thing comin if you think Darien's ever going to be yours!"_

Little did they know a certain person who had been missing in action for the whole evening had caught them leaving and had also taped their shady actions earlier that night.

* * *

><p><em>Author's note: ^_^ Ok that's another chapter over and done with, the job hunt is still going on a the moment and not having much luck :-( boo, so I'm probably going to be digesting some creative fuel and try and get things going again with my fanfic writing. Another chapter will be done soon, till then Byezz.<em>


	14. Chapter 12

**1,2,3 Be with Me**

**Author's Notes:  
><strong>

****_Hey there Guys and Gals! Sorry about this but I must have been half asleep when posting this last night as I put it up as being chapter 13 on my chapters list instead of 12 haha ^_^' whoops. So here we go mix up amended and nothing really changed really just a case of wrong numbers. _

_**Disclaimer: **Usual Notice folks, as awesome as it is I do not own Sailor Moon nor any of the characters involved in this story, they were all the result of a much greater mind than my own lol. So here we go sorry about the mix up with chapters ^_^ enjoy!  
><em>

* * *

><p><strong><strong>**Chapter 12**

After their little gathering in Crescent Valley things went back to normal for a little while. Over the following weeks, Serena threw herself straight into training for her Olympic tryouts and with it being exam season everybody had exams to prepare and study for, which didn't leave much time to get together and hang out. Other than that things at Crescent Valley High were pretty much normal. Darien, Jed, Nathan and Malcolm all caught up with Zach and mercilessly teased him about his stalker behaviour towards Amy. Although they teased him for his behaviour, Jed and Nathan were soon doing some 'stalking' of their own. However when it came to getting caught, their stalker victims were a lot more verbal.

"Jed! I can see you hiding over there!" Raye yelled at a poorly hidden Jed who was trying to be inconspicuous behind a pillar in the school hall

Shrugging with a flirtatious smirk "Looks like you caught me out again Raye"

Raye rolled her eyes at his response and sighed in irritation "What are you following me for anyway? Has Zach started a trend with you guys or something?"

"No, Zach's not the trend setter, that would be my job" Jed smirked "and I'm following you because you look so damn hot when you're mad!"

Raye groaned in irritation at his cocky smile again and said "I don't even need to tell you to go to hell because if this keeps up I am going to personally throw you down there myself!"

"Only if I can pull you down there with me babe" Jed taunted earning and irritable scream from Raye which made him laugh.

Meanwhile Lita was making her way to the home economics room in order to get started on a recipe for her extra credit assignment when she felt someone following her from behind. She kept walking and eventually felt a hand land on her shoulder, taking hold of said hand she pulled the person's arm over her shoulder with both hands and flipped him over her shoulder on to the ground in front of her. Looking down at the person in front of her, Lita was not the least bit surprised to see Nathan lying on the ground smiling up at her.

Nathan laughed "Ok that kind of hurt a little but that was sooo hot!"

"Nathan you doofus! What the hell are you doing?" Lita asked agitatedly

Rolling over on to his stomach, Nathan still lay on the ground looking up at her as he said "Hanging out with you Lita, what's it look like?"

"It looks like some idiot is copying the behaviour of one of his idiot friends, that's what! Look I know we called a truce and everything but don't think because Zach's a stalker you can start acting like one too!" Lita shot back in annoyance.

Nathan laughed "Got to hand it to him though, at least Zach's trying"

Lita scoffed "And failing! Poor Amy's freaked out to the max and don't think me and Raye are going to sit by and take it from you and Jed because Raye can handle herself and I will definitely kick your ass if you piss me off!"

Nathan sighed as Lita walked off towards her class, calling after her with a smirk "Keep resisting me Lita! It only makes me want you more!"

* * *

><p>In another part of the school, Zach was sitting with Darien and Malcolm in the stands by the school football pitch. He was showing them the video footage of Beryl and her cheerleader crony, Emerald tampering with Darien's car the night they were at the bowling alley with Serena and the girls.<p>

"Damn that crazy bitch just doesn't quit!" Malcolm exclaimed in annoyance

Darien turned to Zach with an expression of gratitude and said "Thanks buddy, would you mind giving a statement and this to the police for me, I reported the incident but I don't have enough proof for them to really prosecute her for it"

Zach nodded "Sure thing Darien, I just hope nothing else like this happens in the meantime, that crazy harpy is getting way too dangerous with this stuff, the next thing she tampers with may just put you in the hospital"

"Not to mention Serena too if she's ever in the car with you at the same time" Malcolm said

Darien turned to Malcolm with an enquiring expression "You think she did this to get at Serena?"

Malcolm nodded as Zach said "Hell yeah, from what I saw Beryl had pretty much seen you get out the car with both her and Amy, she'd been parked there in the parking lot the whole evening with Emerald"

Malcolm frowned "No doubt waiting for us to show up and start harassing us again"

Darien groaned in frustration "I don't get the deal with this girl! I've told her a thousand times that I'm not interested, I've even been purposely stern with her just to get her to leave me alone, this girl just can't take a hint!"

"Maybe use Serena as a way of getting the hint across" Malcolm smirked mischievously

Darien shook his head "No way! Judging by how far this crazy harpy has gone already, there is no way I'm getting Serena involved!"

Zach nodded "Good call! You've got no idea what she might do to get at you, best to not get any of those girls involved"

Malcolm laughed "Not that she'd have a chance to get to Amy with you stalking her around everywhere"

Darien laughed as Zach shot back "I told you I wasn't stalking her ok? I was just..."

"Dude you were totally stalking her" Darien chuckled "Following her to, around and even from the library both here and in town"

Malcolm added "Standing outside the girls locker rooms just to see if she'd come out first"

Darien continued "Sitting five rows back from her in the stands at lunch"

"Packing up your things early before the end of class just so you can follow her to the parking lot after school" Malcolm laughed

Zach finally snapped "Argh! Ok I get it I follow her around a lot! I get it ok! I just like to be around her is that so bad?"

"It is when it's freaking her out" Darien chuckled

Zach gasped "she said that?"

Darien nodded as Malcolm laughed leaning his arm on Darien's shoulder "basically yeah, Amy thinks you might be tormenting her like you did when she was younger, she doesn't get why you're following her"

"She shouldn't get so freaked out I'm not out to bully her, if anything that's why I've not been as forward because of what I did to her before" Zach said with an almost puppy like expression full of guilt

Malcolm chuckled at his friend's expression "Well it is! So why are you following her around again?"

Zach coughed and mumbled something under his breath, his face glowing a soft shade of red. Raising a hand to his ear, Darien smirked "Sorry buddy, didn't quite catch that, what?"

"I like her!" Zach exclaimed "I 'like' like her a lot! I've probably always liked her"

Malcolm laughed as Darien cooed teasingly "Aww, our wittle Zach is in wove! Ha ha!"

"Yeah! Maybe I am! So what am I supposed to do?" Zach asked with a sigh "I don't know how to talk to this girl at all and I can't even look at her properly, how am I supposed to show her that I like her when all I'm doing is freaking her out?"

Darien placed a sympathetic hand on his friend's shoulder and said "Zach, chill out! Seriously dude Amy's not as unapproachable as you think, just try saying hi the next time you see her"

Malcolm nodded "Also next time she catches you staring at her don't look away like you're afraid of being caught out, just asked about what she's doing at the time, show some interest in what she does and stuff"

Taking in all of the advice from his friends, Zach nodded "I guess I could try some of that stuff"

Patting Zach on the back Darien smiled and said "Don't worry dude things will work out, you'll find a way of telling Amy you like her in your own time, just take it slow"

"Sort of as slow as your taking it with Serena" Malcolm laughed

Darien turned to him and said defensively "dude I am not taking it slow, I'm just getting reacquainted with her that's all"

Zach laughed "Come on dude I may need advice on girls but even I know your taking it slow! We're talking barely moving here!"

With that the banter continued between the three friends and before long the bell for the end of their lunch break rang and they continued on with the rest of their day. Unfortunately for them the ears of a snitch were listening from a nearby hiding place beneath the stands.


	15. Chapter 13

**1,2,3 Be with Me**

**Author's**** Notes:**

_Heylo Guys and gals ^_^ Maisie again here! So we've all just had a Christmas and New Year so I hope you all had a wonderful christmas and that you all have a happy and healthy 2013! They said the world would end but we're still here so I'm hoping that means we'll all have a bloomin good one lol. So now the hangover from New Years Eve has cleared lets get back to the good stuff, shall we?_

_Disclaimer: Usual business folks, I do not own Sailor Moon or any of the characters that are involved in this story, I'm merely borrowing them for them moment but as I've said **Sailor Moon +Characters = Not Mine!** Ok? ^_^ Alright on we go then  
><em>

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter 13<strong>

Standing in the girl's bathrooms touching up their makeup, Beryl stood with Emerald, as her fellow cheerleader started fretting about getting caught for vandalising Darien's car.

She started pacing uneasily as Beryl touch up her bright red lipstick "Oh God I don't know about this one Beryl, I mean a flat tire is one thing but we basically wreck the guy's whole oil tank"

Beryl shrugged nonchalantly "Please anything could have caused that kind of damage, could have been rubble on the road for all we know, so relax would ya, your making me dizzy with your pacing!"

"But Beryl this is serious shit! If they find out we did this we could like go to jail or something!" Emerald stressed and the gasped as she whimpered "And we'd have to wear those totally gross orange jumpsuit with the number on the back eeewww! I don't want to go to Jail!"

Beryl struck out her hand and dealt a hard cold slap to Emerald's face as she snarled "Shut up! Now listen, you better keep your cool! No one is going to find out it was us that trashed Darien's oil tank! So stop wasting your time whining like a little whimp and find out more about that blonde bitch he was with!"

"You may have to worry about Jail after all Beryl" said a subtle but collective voice from behind her

Beryl turn to see her other fellow cheerleader and second crony Anne standing by the stall nearest the bathroom door as she stuttered "Wh...what do you mean?"

Anne casually walked over to Emerald linking her right arm through Emerald's left as she said "Well it turns out that Darien's little friends now have evidence from that night you wrecked his car"

Suddenly Beryl was all ears as Anne relayed the whole of Darien's conversation with Zach and Malcolm. About seeing both Beryl and Emerald arriving at the bowling alley in Emerald's car, about Zach filming every second of them being in the car of the bowling alley parking lot and exactly what they did to Darien's car that night.

"He even has footage of you waiting in Emerald's car after Darien and the other guys came out to the parking lot, Zach said he caught you on camera racing off when Mr Shields turned up to help them" Anne said placing a comforting arm around Emerald who was still rubbing the sting left behind by Beryl's harsh hand "Looks like you've got both a witness and a piece of evidence to clear up Bestie"

Beryl snarled as the pressure of anxiety grew within her chest "Oh no, we're going to deal with this together Zach's gotta have a weak spot somewhere but what?"

"Oh I'm pretty sure I could tell you that one" Anne said with devious smirk "all I need is alittle...shall we say...confirmation"

Beryl turned to face her with a smirk of her own "Say what?"

Anne gasped in mock surprise "Oh didn't you know? Turns out our little Master of classes has a little crush problem...and well you know me, I just couldn't miss as little love story drama, could you Beryl?"

With that Beryl started forging a little plan with her two cronies in order to keep herself and Emerald out of deep water.

* * *

><p>The end of the school day quickly approached and everyone was placing books in lockers and heading home for the afternoon. Zach was just closing his locker to head for the school parking lot when he saw Amy just a few feet away at her own locker. He felt his heart skip a beat or two as he thought "<em>Keep cool Zach, just do the things that Darien and Malcolm told you and you should come out of this with a little dignity...and if not you'll just be labelled a stalker for the rest of your high school life"<em>

Giving a little groan at his own train of thought, Zach took a deep, steady breath to calm his nerves and was about to walk towards Amy, when all of a sudden a slender and pale arm blocked his path. Looking towards the owner of said arm, Zach looked to find Anne standing in front of him with a flirtatious smile "Hey there Zach, got a minute?"

Moving Anne's arm from in front of him, Zach hurriedly looked to see if Amy was still at her locker. Luckily she was standing talking to Raye so he had some time to catch her. Turning back to Anne, Zach politely but sternly said "Sorry Anne but I've arranged to travel home with someone, I've gotta meet them now so if you wouldn't mind" he gestured to her arm.

"Oh but this won't take long" Anne said with a slight but mock whimper "I really need some help with something"

Zach frowned in agitation "With what? Look you've never wanted anything from me before why all of a sudden are you asking me for help?"

Anne faltered for a moment before saying "Because...you...are...better at math then I am! Yeah! I'm having trouble with my latest maths assignment, stupid Mr Mullens went and gave me an extra credit assignment to make up my grades and I haven't got a clue how to do it all"

Zach shook his head in confusion "What? Mr Mullens? Anne we may share a homeroom class but we're not even in the same math class together, I'm in the advanced class with Mrs Crawley, you know because I'm one of the top two in class!"

"Exactly! So who better to tutor me on it than you?" Anne pouted as she continued "Come on, please? You'll be doing me a big favour, my daddy says if I don't pull up my grades in math I'll lose my Porche and my credit card for a whole month! That's stupidly harsh right?"

"Well then maybe you should think about actually doing the homework properly instead of waiting until the last minute and then getting one of the boys in your class to do it for you!" Zach said with an irritated sigh as he kept his eye on Amy "Seriously Anne I really need to go can't you ask someone else?"

Anne followed Zach's eyes to find he was looking at the book worm girl from their home room class. Turning back towards Zach with a surprised expression, Anne smirked "Oh, so the math whizz has a thing for the little bookworm girl huh?"

Zach turned to Anne and snapped "She is not a bookworm! And who I'm interested in is none of your damn business so take your harpy beak back to your cronies and..."

"Isn't that what you used to call her too Zach?" Anne asked with a raised eyebrow "Bookworm? Or was it Bookworm baby?"

Zach backed off as the memory of his shamefully childish behaviour came flooding back "Stop it"

Anne proceeded to goad Zach further "Oh no wait! I remember now you used to call her all sorts of names, I think my two favourites had to be Bookworm BabyFreak and Book Loving Loser!"

"Stop It!" Zach snapped agressively "I get it ok? I was a jerk to her in high school, but people change with age Anne! Or at least most of us do! You and your Harpy squadron still have **alot **of catching up to do! Now stop bothering me and go back to your harpy bitch general!"

With that Zach turned round hoping to find Amy still there and that she hadn't just heard the commotion between him and Anne. To his ever growing dismay, Amy had already left.

He'd missed her again, no chance to approach her properly, no chance to talk to her and have her talk back, nothing. He'd missed his chance and it was all because on one stupid distraction. With a heavy sigh, Zach slung his book bag over his shoulder and walked, with head down to his car in the parking lot.

As she watched him leave, Anne stood leaning against Zach's locker with her cell phone to her ear as she said "Looks like we're going to have to start our little game bestie, coz I found a weak spot and its name is bookworm!"

* * *

><p>Later that night, after having dinner with his parents and polishing his car again for the 10th time that night, Darien went up to his room and started doing the small pile of homework on his desk. He had just finished his last assignment for chemistry when his cell phone rang.<p>

After looking at the caller I.D Darien's smile grew all the more as he answered with a cheery "Hey there stranger"

Serena giggled "Hey Darien, long time no see...or in this case talk hehe. I'm sorry it's taken me so long to call I've just been so busy with school, working and my training has intensified so much I've barely got anytime at the moment so I'm literally just swamped"

"Hey it's ok" Darien chuckled "I know with the Olympic tryouts you'll be a little busier than usual, plus we've all got exams right now so don't worry about it I understand"

"I know but I feel awful, we were just catching up with each other again and now we've got our friends talking with each other I'd just like to be able to join you guys soon, so how are things going with you guys are you all ok?" Serena asked inquisitively

Darien laughed "Yeah everyone's fine Jed, Nathan and Zach all seem to be trying to make their move on Raye, Lita and Amy but I don't know, they say it's going well but I don't think so"

"Oh really how so?" Serena giggled, knowing vaguely where this might be going

Darien answered with a smirk "Well Jed came back limping a little so I'm guessing Raye either trod or stomped on his foot, Nathan came back with a red hand print on his face and Zach?...Well he's just plain miserable, I kinda feel sorry for him"

Serena gushed "Aww poor Zach, he must really like Amy a lot if he's that nervous about it"

"Yeah he really does, he even said so this afternoon at lunch to me and Malcolm" Darien sighed "Poor guy's still reeling from how he acted in junior high, doesn't think he's got a chance"

"I know what you mean, I spoke to Amy a little while ago online and she's still very unsure about it all, just being near him make her nervous " Serena said with a sigh of her own and then asked with genuine concern for her friend "Do you think we should help them a little bit Darien?"

Raising an inquisitive eyebrow, Darien asked "What? You mean like match making? Serena I don't do that kind of stuff"

Serena gave a 'Tutt' down the phone before saying "No Darien, we'll just gently persuade them to talk with one and other, you know like our parents used to do whenever we got in a big fight as kids"

"You mean lock them in a closet until they start talking to each other?" Darien asked

Serena giggled "Exactly only we could do it with less closets and more of a date situation"

"Serena, I thought you said this wasn't a match making situation?" Darien asked sensing that he would have to do most of the things Serena was suggesting as she wasn't here to do them

"It doesn't count as match making if one of two parties likes the other Darien" Serena insisted "It's just a matter of persuasion for the other part its called setting a moment"

"So it's match making?" Darien asked again

Serena said "No we're going to make it so they can talk to each other in a good and somewhat personal way, somewhere with no possible interruptions"

"So you're match making then?" Darien asked again

Serena stressed "No Darien, we're going to get them together to talk! Just talk, no dating, no nothing if that happens later it's down to them, we're just giving them a little push in the right direction"

Darien thought about this for a moment before saying "It still sounds like match making to me"

"Oh for Pete's sake! You're doing this to wind me up now aren't you?" Serena said in slight annoyance and amusement

Darien chuckled "A little bit yeah! But in a way I'm hoping this doesn't involve me doing all of this 'setting up' stuff because that's not my thing, the guys are usually cool at dealing with a date situation I usually sit back and watch"

"So didn't do any of the dating yourself huh Ladies man?" Serena laughed

Darien took a deep breath before saying "Just to clarify I am NOT a ladies man and for your information Miss Ice Skater I haven't been on any dates"

There was a slight pause before Serena answered "You serious?"

Darien unconsciously nodded before saying "Not one, I dunno what it is with the girls at school but they seem to like that I'm...well not a jerkass...that and my car"

Serena laughed "Well it's just such a pretty colour Darien, maybe next time you should go for black or something instead"

"But I like red" Darien whimpered causing Serena to laugh down the phone

Serena giggled "Listen I'll talk to the girls and get them to help but the clear answer to this problem is Amy and Zach just need to talk to each other, once they get over the lack of communication you won't have to do much else to help them, they'll do the rest on their own"

Darien sighed with a smile as he asked "How is it you know just what to do?"

Serena scoffed "Pfft! Please Darien I go to a school where over half of the student population are all girls. That and if you spend longer than five minutes with Mina you'll know she's boy crazy! You learn a thing or two when it comes to crush stories"

Laughing at her comment Darien smiled "If you say so"

"Trust me, get them talking to each other and that's all it'll take" Serena said with a positive attitude "I'm sure of it!"

Darien smirked "So what do you recommend for the other two then?"

"Who? Jed and Nathan? Well knowing how stubborn their chosen girls are, I can wish them a lot of luck! How's that sound?" Serena giggled

Darien laughed "My thoughts exactly, to be honest I'm having more fun watching them try"

With that Darien and Serena said good night and started thinking of ways to get their two hesitant friends in the same room. There was only one place they would ever be in the same space of time and that was

The Library

* * *

><p>After calling round to Raye and Lita to fill them in on her idea, and teaming up with Darien and his friends to help them out, Serena had forwarded a draft of her idea to Darien through a text message...but then the message got a little too long and after exchanging email addresses, Serena sent an email copy to Darien's computer.<p>

So the idea was to get the group together with the two masterminds for a big study group before their joint exam of English language and literature. They would use one of the small study rooms allocated to groups of students that likes to study together, they were kept under surveillance by the librarians but hardly anyone used them so it was the perfect spot for a set up.

So the girls entered first with Amy and asked acquired a key to study room 3. After finding the room and opening the door Raye tucked the key to the room in her jeans pocket. After securing the key in her pocket Raye started some light chit chat.

"So got any plans this weekend Amy?" Raye asked with a smile

Amy smiled back and answered "Well not much really just studying, oh but I do have a tutoring session on Saturday"

Lita got a little confused "I thought you only tutored there during the week Amy?"

Amy sighed a little as she said "Well yes, usually I do but unfortunately the poor boy I was tutoring was still sick from having some kind of tummy bug the previous week and couldn't make it but he said he could do Saturday so I said I've give him an hour's session in the town library instead"

"Oh well that sucks" Lita said and then smiled "but at least you can come straight out when you're done! How about a movie on Saturday night?"

Amy brightened up a little as she said "Oh that sounds great there's a movie I wanted to see for weeks now! I think it's still in cinema theatres now"

Raye leaned forward in her seat as she asked "Really? What's it about?"

Amy smile as she started explaining "Well it's about this couple and basically they..."

Just as she was starting to explain it, the boys walked in with Zach at the forefront of the group. They both froze as their eyes landed on each other, both riddled with nerves and anxiety. As they were locked in something of a frozen stare the other guys walked in and sat down.

"hey there girls" Darien greeted them all

Raye smirked "it's about time where have you guys been?"

Jed sat right next to Raye and leaned closer to her as he teased "Why? Did you miss me?"

"Don't push it with me buddy or there will be a Jed shape hole in that door!" Raye hissed impatiently "We arrange to meet here five minutes after the lunch bell"

"Yeah and we needed our books so cut us some slack Raye, Jeez!" said Malcolm as he sat down near Darien.

They had all sat accordingly so that Zach would have to sit next to Amy. After sitting down in his seat, Zach couldn't have felt more awkward if he'd tried. He started getting even more nervous, hands were sweating as he went over the advice Darien and Malcolm had given him in his sleep. "_Ok, just keep cool, it's no big deal, I mean I'm just sitting next to Amy for a study group with our friends that's all it is right, they wouldn't set this up on purpose right?"_

Amy on the other hand did not like this one bit. She felt her hands begin to shake as they rested on her lap, she held them together, trying to make the shaking stop the whole time thinking "_Why do I have a bad feeling about this?"_

So things settle down slightly as they begin studying when all of a suddenly after a few minutes, a huge gurgling sounds came from Raye's end of the table breaking the silence in the room. Everyone at the table turned to look at her with a surprised expression only to find the same surprise on her face. Her eyes turned to find Jed slumped over as he groaned "Awww man I need food!"

Raye exclaimed "Holy crap! What did you last eat? A bear?"

"No but I could eat one now!" Jed said as his stomach gave another loud rumble "I'm starving! Guys can we hit the cafeteria?"

Amy stuttered "but...we...we've barely started!"

Darien looked at Amy with an apologetic expression "Sorry Amy but I'm getting kind of hungry too" the others around her, apart from Zach agreed.

Lita looked in her bag and exclaimed with a disappointed expression "Oh no! I can't believe this!"

Raye turned to Lita in concern "What's wrong?"

"I totally forgot my lunch this morning! I packed on like always but it's not in my backpack" Lita exclaimed in sham annoyance

"What?" Amy said in surprise as the dread of being left with someone like Zach began to build up in her "but Lita you never forget to bring lunch, in fact making it is your favourite part!"

Raye shrugged "Well it can't be helped, you probably just forgot it, and I can spot you some lunch money if you like?"

Amy's dread grew a little stronger as she said "but Raye you never by lunch, you always have one made to bring with you"

Again Raye shrugged "Grandpa needed his rest so I didn't ask I just took work money"

Darien smiled "It's alright Amy I promise we won't be long, we'll go buy lunch and come right back, we'll stash it in our bags so we can bring it in here ok?"

Zach shook his head as he rose his palm to his forehead and thought "_Yes they would do this on purpose, I better say something"_

Just as Zach got up to say something, Darien turned and said "There's no need to worry Amy, Zach's a good guy he'll keep you company, won't you Zach?"

Rushing over to Darien, Zach said in a harsh whisper "Darien what are you doing?"

"You wanted to talk to her right?" Darien asked "What better way than this?"

Zach shook his head "Look Darien this won't work look she's all ready freaking out at the thought of being left with me"

Darien nodded and said "then there's only one thing to do now isn't there?"

"What? What do I do?" Zach asked almost desperately

Darien took Zach by the shoulders, shoved him lightly back into the room and hurriedly closed the door behind him. Amy felt her anxiety go sky high as tension began to build in her throat. Just then she heard the resounding click of the lock on the door being turned as she swallowed hard to clear the tension from her throat.

Amy turned her head with a very nervous and almost dreadful expression; here she was stuck in a library study room with none other than her old childhood tormentor, Zach Stone!

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><p><strong>Author's<strong>** Notes**

_Ok coming along nicely with this guys! Going to start building on the other relationships now and definitely get Beryl some more evil spot light got something going now that I've sat down and gotten a good flow of ideas going again. I will get them up on here for you all as soon as possible but for now I need sleep lol so enjoy the start to the New Year and I shall post again soon ^_^ Bye!_


	16. Chapter 14

**1,2,3, Be With me**

_Author's Notes_

_Heylo there Guys and Girls ^_^ Maisie here! I'm actually back! (YAY!) I am so so sorry it's taken so long to get another chapter for this story, long story short, I've been having to sort some serious aspects of my life out, such as a job and place to live and at the moment my lovely other half has offered for me to use his computer where and when I can to write my stories (He's such a sweetheart xx). Anyway, as it is the case that I am having to borrow my boyfriend's laptop it does mean that I'll only be able to make posts when I see him, which is actually on a frequent basis, so I will be writing as much as i can between now and when we move into our new flat (We found a flat together, yay!) and I will be sure to post as many chapters as I can between now and when moving time comes around. Again I am so sorry for the long wait and hope that you are still enjoying the story._

_Disclaimer__: **Ok guys and girls you know the drill, I do not own Sailor Moon or any of it's characters. I am merely borrowing them as part of my story, but that's it. So Sailor Moon = not mine! Ok? Are we good?...Ok then lets get started**_

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><p><span><strong>Chapter<strong> **14**

Thumbs twiddled, Pencils and feet tapped and plenty of sighing was heard but the only thing that was yet to happen was any talking. It had been a whole ten minutes since Darien and the others had left Amy and Zach to their own devices and so far nothing had come of this little prearranged trap of theirs.

Too nervous to try and even make conversation, Amy did the only thing that usually comforted her through any odd or uncomfortable situation and took out one of her current literary favourites, The Hunger Games. Currently on the second book in the series, Amy picked up her book and began to lose herself within its pages when she heard a slight gasp and clearing of the throat coming from the opposite side of the table.

Looking over the top of her book, she saw a very nervous looking but slightly interested expression on Zach's face as he asked "Isn't that the second Hunger Games book you have there?"

Amy felt her jaw drop slightly as she thought "_Are you telling me the boy who used to torment me about reading books is actually asking me about a book?"_

Somewhat hesitant, Amy nodded slightly before returning to it again only to be brought out again by another question "How is it so far? Is it any good?"

Looking over at her past tormentor again, Amy said in a somewhat quiet voice "Um, so...far yes...but I...I thought you weren't into...you know...books and things"

Zach looked at her with a somewhat surprised and slightly hurt expression "I know it may not have seemed so before now but yeah I love to read books, The Hunger Games, Lord of the Rings, the Harry Potter books..."

A look of surprise and slight intrigue adorned Amy's face as she asked "You've read...all of those?"

Nodding in answer to her question, Zach said "I love reading, academically or otherwise, you could say I've found a good reason to like them" with that he looked straight at Amy with a sincere look in his eyes.

Amy could help but feel her nerves stirring again at that stare of his and went back to reading her book, when she heard a sigh and the scrape of a chair against the floor as Zach spoke again "Look Amy I know things between us have been more than uneasy since we were in Junior high...and I know that it has everything to do with how I acted back then but I swear on my own life, I'm different now"

Looking up from her book she saw Zach taking his previous seat next to her again looking at her with such sincerity "but I know a lot if not all of the things I did and said to you during those times hurt you badly and have understandably caused you to be uneasy and nervous around me, so..."

Amy placed her book down on the table with her head down as she asked in a shaken tone "Zach...what...what is it exactly that you want from me? I mean yes all of which you just said is somewhat true but it's also the fact that you've been following me practically everywhere bar my own home for the past few months. Have I done something to offend you? Do you dislike me that much?"

"No, that's not it at all Amy, I promise I'll never do anything to upset you again!" Zach insisted looking at Amy face on with his anxiety growing by the minute.

Amy turned with worry filled eyes and asked "Then why do you follow me around so much? I mean I would understand if it was merely coincidental when we're heading to classes and such but you've been following me even more so in the past few weeks, it's rather unsettling. Is it something you want from me? You want something from me is that it?"

"The only thing I want Amy is to be able to be left with you in a room without this awkward and nervous air between us" Zach said honestly which stirred something of a gasp of surprise from Amy as he continued "I know I was jerk to you Amy, I know I said and did horrible things to you when we were younger but I'm not that kid anymore. I want to be able to sit and talk to you about books and poetry and studying whenever I want too. I want to be able to approach you in the hallway without having this nervous weight on my chest. I really want to be able to sit near you in the library and talk to you normally instead of seeming like some crazed stalker out to harass you"

After his little outburst, Zach let out a big sigh as if he'd been holding all that in on one breath. He then hung his head as he leaned forward in his seat with his elbows resting on his thighs, his hands hanging down towards the floor in a look of sheer defeat. After hearing all of the effort he'd gone to just to be near her, Amy asked tentatively "Then...then if that's all you wanted...why...why couldn't you have said this before?"

Zach looked up with a heavy sigh and said "Because I knew after all that trouble I caused before you might not ever want to be near me again let alone speak to me, so I got really nervous and scared about what might happen if I did but the truth is Amy, I'm not out to trouble you, I like you too much to ever do that again!"

Turning abruptly to face Zach with a surprised expression, Amy gasped before asking "You...you...like me?"

Looking at her with such a pitiful expression, Zach nodded "Very much so Amy, have done for a long while too, I just never knew how to approach you before, I was scared you'd run a mile from me rather than talk to me but I promise wholeheartedly I don't mean any harm or ill will towards you Amy, I want to know more about you without following you around, I'd like to talk with you properly and get to know you better, although...although I'd understand is you said..."

"O...okay!" Amy said in a shy manner

Now it was Zach's turn to be surprised "Huh?"

He looked up to see Amy with her light fringe of soft blue hair obscuring her eyes from view but wasn't quite long enough to hide the blush from her face "It...would be nice...to talk to you without...it being awkward...I would...like that, especially seeing as...our group of friends seem to be...you know...spending a lot more time together"

A look of hope adorned Zach's face as he asked "So...you wouldn't mind me talking to you in the hall...or sitting with you in the Library?"

Still with a blush upon her face, Amy nodded "I don't mind that...we can take things slow and see what happens" Amy looked up at Zach with a shy smile "Sound fair enough?"

Zach smiled with relief he nodded "Then would it be ok for us to hang out at lunch and sometimes after school here at the library for a while? We do have tests coming up and where better to meet up then in a place we both like right?"

Amy nodded with the same shy smile "Sure that sounds like a good idea...so back to what we were saying before..."

Zach looked a little confused before Amy smiled and asked "Favourite Harry Potter book? Please don't say seven...please don't say seven"

Zach smiled and chuckled as he said "Nah seven had nothing on the first five they were awesome! Even The Half-blood Prince was way better"

A sigh of relief escaped Amy as she said "Oh thank God someone else who thinks that besides me! I've asked many of my book club friends and they all say seven was the best one but I'm sorry, the level of excitement just wasn't in this one"

Zach chuckled "What excitement? All they really do for a good couple chapters is fight and argue in a tent"

"I know!" Amy turned to him with excitement in her eyes as she held up the book Catching Fire "But these are amazing, I haven't been this wrapped up in a book in a very, very long time and that was even before Harry Potter and Lord of the Rings"

"Yeah I just started that one now but you look like your flying ahead of me" Which chapter are you on?"

"I'm almost half way through! Oh it's amazing! There's so much suspense I feel like I might scream if I don't read the rest right away" Amy blushed after her little outburst to see Zach watching her with a smile and said "he he but I guess that's a little bit much huh?"

Zach laughed "No, to be honest if it wasn't for classes and stuff getting in the way I'd be reading my copy now, I leave mine at home otherwise I wouldn't put it down, looks like you have a bit more self control"

Amy smiled and after that they launched into a full blown conversation about books they loved and what they thought of different types of literature. It was like there had never been a problem to begin with. Little did they know that 6 pairs of ear were listening in from outside the door with surprised expressions on their faces.

Raye and Lita high fived each other as Raye commented "Leave it to Serena to know how to solve that kind of problem"

"Well she does have something of a matchmaker fanatic for a cousin maybe she picked something up from Mina" Lita laughed as they unlocked the door and went in.

Before Darien could follow in after the girls and Malcolm, Darien felt himself being pulled backwards and found himself faced with Nathan and Jed "Dude Serena fixed this plan up?" Jed asked

Pulling himself free of their hold on him, Darien faced Jed and Nathan with a smirk "Yeah I told her about their little situation and she came up with it right on the spot..."

Simultaneously, Nathan and Jed both ended up on the floor and looked at Darien with the biggest puppy dog expressions as they begged "Please get her to help us!"

Jed asked sincerely "Dude we've tried everything!"

Nodding in agreement, Nathan groaned "We even tried Zach's stalker technique and that just made things worse!"

Darien chuckled slightly before seeing the sincere look of desperation on both of his friends "You two are really serious about this aren't ya?"

Both nodded as they hung their heads slightly "Darien you have no idea, I've wanted to date Raye since late Junior High but she's not giving me an inch of a chance"

Nathan looked at Darien with a heartfelt expression as he said "Look Darien we've watched both you and Zach getting a second chance with these girls, we just want the same chance"

"Come on dude, help a buddy out? Please?" Jed asked with the same heartfelt expression

Darien rolled his eyes as he pulled out his cell and started texting Serena as he mumbled "Aw damn it why is it all of a sudden I'm becoming a matchmaker's wingman?"

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><p>For the first time in what felt like a very long time, Zach walked through the corridors of Crescent Valley High School, with a smile on his face, sighing contentedly. He couldn't believe how well things had gone with Amy and how much better he now felt having spoken to her in a more open and honest way.<p>

They had spent almost an hour talking, long after their friends had left them to attend to their own extra-curricular activities, about all sorts of things. The other kinds of books they liked to read, the music they liked, what kind of academic subjects they were most interested in at school and so much more.

Humming a happy little tune as he arrived at his locker to put his books away, Zach felt like nothing in the world could spoil his mood. That is until, after placing his books in the safety of his locker, Zach closed his locker, to find both Anne and Emerald standing to the right of his locker. Startled at their sudden appearance beside his locker, Zach exclaimed loudly "Holy Sh..!"

"Shh! Careful there Math Whiz boy" Anne laughed "Teacher hang around after school too you know"

Emerald giggled "Last thing you want with your squeaky clean record is a detention for bad language, isn't that right Zach?"

Zach huffed in annoyance as he rolled his eyes and said "This is the second time today Anne, I thought I'd made myself clear the first time I told you to get lost! What do you want?"

Anne sauntered on up to Zach and casually put her arm over his shoulder as she pouted "we don't mean any harm Zachy boy, we just want to get a picture for the school year book, it's getting to the summer months now and we need to start gathering pictures before school lets out"

"Yeah" Emerald added with an all too cheerful tone "And we still don't have one of you to add in"

Zach raised an eyebrow in suspicion as he said "I thought they get official photographers to come in to take pictures for the year book, and those who are absent on the day have their official school pictures from earlier in the year used for the year book"

Anne shrugged "They've allowed us to take our own casual shots for this year, sort of a friends and classmates feature to allow us to have the pictures we want in our year book"

Emerald nodded taking a polaroid camera out of her clutch purse "Yeah and we did used to hang out with you once you know, so come on show a bit of companionship and take a picture with Anne"

Rolling his eyes in annoyance and just desperate to hurry and get home, Zach groaned "Alright but make it quick I need to get home"

Zach stood in front of Emerald, seeing she had her camera at the ready, with Anne standing in front of him, taking on a kind of mock innocence as she pouted for the camera. Just as Emerald was about to take the picture, all of a sudden, Anne spun round and threw herself at Zach, arms locked around the back of his neck, her lips pressed firmly against his, just in time for him to hear the snap of the camera shutter.

Giving Anne a good shove, causing her to stagger back, Zach raged "What the hell do you think you're doing?"

Giggling smugly, Anne took the picture from Emerald as she said "Getting a little leverage here Zach"

"What do you mean?" Zach asked, confused and very worried about what these harpies might have in store for the picture they just took.

Emerald gave something of a mock confused look as she said "Oh didn't you know, we know all about the little video that you took at the bowling alley a few nights ago"

Anne started waving the picture or her lips locked with Zach's tauntingly in front of his face as she said "And we intend for you to hand it over to us or…"

"Or what?" Zach raged "You're going to try spreading that picture in a big poster around the school right? Grow up girls that's so petty!"

Anne sniggered "No we were thinking that if you refuse to hand over that tape"

"We would go and find the little blue haired book baby and let her have a little look at it" Emerald laughed maliciously.

Zach felt all of the colour drain from his face. After spending so much time trying to get into Amy's good graces, after spending time with her this afternoon talking about so much and finding out just how much her really cared for her, the thought of her seeing that picture was almost too much to bare.

Moving forwards to take the picture from them, Zach shot back desperately "If you girls think for one second this is going to stop me, going to the police with what I have on you and your little crony leader you are seriously mistaken!"

"Oh but I think it will" Anne sneered "Because if you don't we will make sure to hurt that pathetic little bookworm, just as much as you hurt her in Junior High"

Emerald stepped forward and held her hand out "So be a good boy and hand us that tape and we make this picture go bye bye"

Zach shook his head "I can't believe you would sink so low as to blackmail me to save Beryl's ass, what has she ever done for you two to make you want to do things like this for her?"

Taken back by what Zach was asking the girls both took a few minutes to actually think about what Beryl had done for them in the past. Shaking themselves out of their thoughts, Anne broke their temporary silence by saying "Look! We don't have to explain ourselves to you just hand over that tape! Or I swear to God I will stick this picture in bookworm's locker!"

"It's your choice Zach!" Emerald snarled "Your little Bookworm dork! Or that tape"

With various scenarios of what might happen as a result of Amy seeing that picture, Zach could feel the ever familiar pressure of anxiety and nervousness building within his chest. He desperately wanted to spare anyone, especially Amy from seeing that picture, but he also knew that if he didn't want these girls to get away with what they did to Darien's car.

Determined to stick to his guns, Zach shook his head and raged "Forget it! Yes Amy is important to me but I am not about to hand over the one piece of evidence I have that proofs you bitches are crazy! You can take all of the pictures you want but I will not let you spoil what I've got going with Amy, nor will I give you what you want, got it? Now I will tell you this one last time, you stay the hell away from me!"

Running faster and faster towards his car in the school parking lot, Zach couldn't help but physically wince as the ever familiar memory of Amy's heartbroken sobs filled his mind. The image of her hunched over one of her beloved books as a young girl crying her heart out after yet another bout of his insensitive teasing was almost too much for him to bare, then the image in his head change to that of her lovely face from earlier, soaked with her own tears, the same look of hurt she had once always shown to him.

Shaking his head, Zach was lost for what to do, that's when he heard his cell phone ring. With hesitant hands, Zach answered the phone with an anxious tone "Hel..hello?"

"Zach?" It was Darien "Dude you were meant to meet up with me and guys like an hour ago, what's taking so long man?"

Not knowing what else to do, Zach sighed "Yeah sorry, I got held up at school, I'll fill you in when I get there, you guys are going to love this one"

"Why? What's going on?" Darien asked "Did something happen after we left?"

Zach gave a sardonic chuckle as he said "Well let's just say that the Harpy bitches are far from finished with us yet"

With that Zach assured Darien that he would meet them at the bowling alley and set off in his car, all the time desperate to find a way to keep Anne and Emerald from showing that picture around the school.

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><p><span><em>Author's Notes<em>

_Yay! Got to admit that it does feel really nice to be writing again, I've missed it so much and I just hope that you all are still enjoying my stories as I am writing them. Hope that this next chapter is was a good come back chapter ^_^ be sure to let me know what you think ok? Till next time folks x_


	17. Chapter 15

**1,2,3, Be With Me**

_Author's Notes:_

_Hey there strangers ^ _^ Maisie here! Finally getting back into the swing of my writing but I am without the internet at home at the moment so I am planning on getting as much writing as I can done at home and then posting them when I can access a computer with the internet on it. Thank you, thank you, thank you for being so patient, I know it must seem like I've dropped off the face of the planet with this one but I can assure you I'm still here and working out way to tie up relationships and things for the characters but I am getting there I promise. _

**_Disclaimer: Standard disclaimer guys, I do not own Sailor Moon or it's any of it's characters, so Sailor Moon = Not mine! _**

_So without further ado...let's move on to the story at hand:_

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><p><span><strong>Chapter 15<strong>

After arriving at the bowling alley and chugging the biggest milkshake he could muster through his nerves, Zach relayed all of what happened with Anne and Emerald. About the kiss, the picture and the attempt at blackmail.

"Those evil little wenches would do anything to keep their little harpy queen happy even if it means making others miserable" Zach huffed in an anxious way "Yet I know if Amy sees that picture she'd never trust a word I said again and things were going so well with her today I just don't know what to do about it"

"I tell you what you're going to do" Malcolm said "have you got the tape with you?"

Zach nodded with a shrug "I carry it in my backpack, thought it would be too much of a flight risk to keep it in my locker and as we've seen they know how to fix someone's car, if you know what I mean"

Malcolm nodded "Yeah and anyone who saw that tape would too, they can make threats all they want Zach but they can do pretty much nothing because the ball is in our court, they can't do anything"

"Are you serious?" Zach stressed "They're threatening to expose me as a player to the one girl I actually care about, I count that as doing something"

"Not if you had a witness" came a nasal like voice.

Looking up, the guys saw their classmate and renowned school nerd Melvin, with his girlfriend Molly "We saw everything"

Zach looked to them in shock and asked "Really, but how could you I didn't even see you two there?"

Melvin said "I was coming out of my after school chess club, Molly had come to meet me to walk home when we heard the commotion in the hallway, we didn't know what else to do so we just kept it to ourselves and left"

Zach sighed in relief as he asked "so, you'd be willing to back me up if anything happened with Amy, Melvin?"

Melvin looked at him with a reluctant nod "I'll admit I don't really like you very much Zach, you've always been mean to me and my friends, you and your friends here have never been nice to me and I don't remember you being that nice to Amy either"

With a miserable sigh, Zach was on the verge of giving up hope when Melvin said "But, after hearing you talk just now and from what was going on with those girls, I would say you must like Amy a lot to want to spare her from getting hurt like that, she really means a lot to you then huh?"

Looking at Melvin in astonishment, Zach nodded "Yeah she does, a whole lot"

Melvin nodded as he said "just know that I'm doing this for Amy's sake, I still don't

fully trust you yet, but if it means dealing with those horrible girls, I'm in"

An almighty sigh came from the whole group as Malcolm said "Then that leaves only one thing left to take care of, Zach do you still have that tape? Like a spare file or something backed up somewhere?"

"Yeah, it's on my computer at home" Zach said "why?"

"Because boys if you're going to play with jokers, you've got to know how to beat em at their own game, and I think I know just the way to do it"

As the evening went on the boys talked at length about a plan that just might bring Beryl and her harpies to their knees.

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It was 9.00am the following Saturday, and Serena was packing her overnight bag into the boot of her little silver beetle, as she thought over the two calls she had received last night, one being from Amy, talking over all of the things that had happened with Zach and her over analysing thoughts regarding him. The second one was from Darien, with Jed and Nathan in the background begging her to help them win over Lita and Raye…which went a little something like this

_Flashback to the previous night's phone call_

"_Serena you know how you came up with the idea of shutting Amy and Zach in a room together until they started talking to each other" Darien asked_

_Serena nodded as she said "Yeah, and I gather it worked from the call I just received from Amy analysing every details of what happened he he"_

_Darien sighed inwardly "Well I've got a favour to ask…um, actually make it…these guys have a favour to ask"_

_As soon as Darien stopped talking, Serena pulled the phone away from her ear as pleading cries of "PLEASE HELP US!" came through the receiver._

_Serena couldn't help but giggle as she recognised the voices that were pleading with her down the phone "Jed? Nathan? What's with the hysterics? I didn't think you two were the type to beg"_

_Jed sighed hopelessly "Serena you worked your magic so well for Zach, could you please help us out?"_

"_We've tried almost everything we can think of" Nathan stressed "We even went so far as to try Zach's stalking tactics but it just resulted in us getting our butts handed to us, instead of a date"_

_Darien sighed as he said "Sadly I can vouch for both of them Serena, quite frankly it's getting a little sad watching them try"_

_A chorus of "Hey!" was heard on the other end of the phone._

_Serena laughed as she heard Darien say "I mean it in a sympathetic way! Anyway, Serena do you think that you could give them a hand, like you did with Amy and Zach"_

"_I can try Darien, but Lita and Raye both are pretty stubborn" Serena said "It may take a while before they let their guard down around these too, especially after the kind of history we've had"_

_Serena heard to heavy hearted sighs, coming from the other end of the phone, feeling sympathetic, she said "How about I come over this weekend and try to help out?"_

"_Are you able to do that?" Darien asked "We wouldn't want this to get in the way of your prep for the winter Olympic try outs"_

_Serena chuckled "It's ok Darien, there is an ice rink in Crescent Valley you know and besides my exams period at my school is now over so I'm free for the summer"_

"_AWESOME!" cried Jed and Nathan "Serena, you are the best! I am sorry we were ever mean to you!"_

_Serena laughed "Keep it cool guys, I said I'll try and help, I dunno if it'll work, to be honest Mina is more the matchmaker type than I am maybe I should bring her too?"_

_Darien replied "Sure if she wants to come along, it'd be cool to hang out"_

"_ok I'll run it passed mom and dad and make sure to let you know when is ok for me to come over" Serena said "I'll talk to you guys soon ok?"_

"_ok Serena, bye" the three of them called before the dial tone reached Serena's ears_

_End of phone call flashback_

As Serena stood shaking her head in silent amusement, Mina dumped her bag into the trunk of her car before asking "What's so funny? Yates didn't show up did he?"

"No Mina I was just thinking over the conversation I had with Darien and the guys last night, they seemed pretty desperate to get Raye and Lita to like them" Serena said as they both got into the car.

Mina smirked "And why shouldn't they, minus the stubborn as an ox personalities, Lita and Raye are pretty awesome girls"

Serena smirked back at her cousin "So what do you think it's going to take to win them over for Jed and Nathan, Mistress Matchmaker?"

Mina sat thinking it over as Serena put her seatbelt on "See with Lita and Raye, they are stubborn but they're not ogres, once they've seen a good side to you they're cool, it's just getting them to see a good side to these guys"

"That and flattery usually gets you about anywhere with Raye" Serena giggled

As they drove the short journey to Crescent Valley, Serena and Mina thought over some of the ways that they could help their friends. When they finally arrived outside Darien's house for the evening, Mina suddenly said "I got it! How about it we try and find traits in the guys that the girls might like? Say if they had a hobby or interest in common that they could use as a conversation starter, maybe find a way of making a nice gesture to the girls that they may want to follow up on"

As Darien was seen coming out of his house to come and greet them, Serena turned to Mina and said "Sounds better than anything I was coming up with, I was thinking we could literally shove them all in a cupboard until they learn to play nice like mom used to do with Darien and me when we were little"

"I dunno whether that would have worked three times in a row though Serena" Mina laughed

Serena shrugged "Hey third times, the charm, it could have worked"

"Do you really think that Raye would have spent that amount of time locked up with Jed without punching him?" Mina asked

Thinking about it for a short while, Serena giggled "Yeah your right that's a bad idea"

"What's a bad idea?" Darien spoke, his voice startling them both, as they turned to look at him with surprised expressions.

Darien laughed "Sorry but it seemed like you were having a really in-depth conversation, I thought I'd join in"

After amusingly berating Darien for interrupting and startling them, Serena and Mina ran to greet Darien's mother, Maria at her front door, leaving Darien to bring in their luggage.

11111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111

So after many hugs and cuddles of greeting, and a brief catch up session with Mr and Mrs shields, Darien was about to have some catch up time of his own with Serena when all of a sudden there was a hefty knock at his front door.

Turning to his parents with a questioning look, Darien only received a confused shrug and shake of the head in an 'I don't know' kind of expression before Serena stood and said "I have a feeling I know who it is, I'll get it"

Serena ran over and opened the front door, but before she could get a kind greeting of welcome passed her lip, two tall figures swooped her up into a hug as they exclaimed desperately "You're finally here, we've been waiting all day!"

Hearing the ever familiar, desperate tones of his friends, Darien got up to see what all the fuss was about, when he looked to see Nathan and Jed, one clinging to a giggling Serena's legs the other holding onto her like she was some kind of lost teddy bear that'd just been found.

Shaking his head in amusement, Darien excused himself to his parents and ran to Serena's rescue. Rolling up a spare newspaper they had on the coffee table, Darien proceeded to start batting Jed and Nathan on the noses, like dogs as he said "Oh, you let go of her right now! Bad dogs, sit!"

Putting Serena back down, Jed and Nathan just gave Darien a puppy dog expression, whimpering the whole time. Laughing as they watched Darien banter with his friends, Serena and Mina both whistled to get their attention as Mina said "Alright now guys, enough playing around, it's now late in the evening and I am starving!"

Serena rubbed her rumbling tummy as she said "It was a pretty long afternoon in the car, you'd never think having to drive and think up ideas at the same time would make me so hungry but there we go"

"How about we order some pizzas in?" Maria said as she and Damien stuck their heads round the door frame to their living room.

"Yeah" Damien chuckled "You can concoct whatever vile plans you have for matchmaking your friends here"

Jed and Nathan turned to Darien and cried simultaneously "You told your parents dude? Not Cool!"

"I didn't tell them!" Darien said, twiddling as he then went on to say "they may or may not have overheard me telling Serena"

Serena poked Darien "Hey don't use me as your scapegoat Shields, it's not my fault you crack under pressure"

"I do not!" Darien said defensively

"oh yeah, then who was it that took the rest of my ice cream on my eighth birthday when I went to the bathroom, Darien?"

Looking anywhere but at Serena, Darien shrugged "I told you it was your dad"

"Really?" Serena smirked as she looked at her now giggling cousin Mina "that's really funny, because as you know Darien, my dad's lactose intolerant, he can't eat dairy"

Darien faltered "Oh…yeah…right um, then maybe it was your mom"

"Mom was working at the hospital that night" Serena giggled as she stepped forward and asked again "So if mom was at work and Dad can't eat ice cream that really leaves a few people now doesn't it Darien, and I know Lita, Amy and Raye had cake"

Getting a little anxious, as he could feel Serena's beautiful cerulean blue eyes bearing into him, Darien's gaze flicked between Serena and the floor as he coughed and muttered something under his breath.

"Sorry Darien, didn't catch that what did you say?" Serena said turning her ear towards him

Clearing his throat Darien said "It was me"

As Jed, Nathan and Mina started laughing, Damien chuckled "Son, don't ever become a prisoner of war you'd crack to soon"

"Ha ha, funny" Darien sulked as he skulked passed his dad into the living room whilst the rest of their little group followed him in to look at pizza menus and discuss ways of getting the girls, Raye and Lita to give Jed and Nathan the chance at a date.

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So over the course of Sunday morning Serena, Mina, Lita and Raye talked over breakfast about the kinds of guys they liked and what interests they would like to share with them.

Amy wasn't able to join them as she had arranged to meet Zach at the town library for a study session.

All the morning they sat and discussed the kinds of movies they like, the books they were interested in (which weren't many), the music they enjoyed listening to and the kinds of things that they liked to do in their spare time.

In Lita's case, her main interests were cooking, karate, gardening, baking and shopping. She liked to read up on new recipes to try and plants that she would consider grown in her plant pots at her apartment, but other than that she had recently gotten into a manga series called 'Kitchen Princess' that she, Serena and Mina end up talking about for about half an hour straight.

With Raye, however, it was a whole different story, she liked to sing, write songs, karate, and yoga, Pilates, dancing and playing the keyboard…oh and shopping too. She also was very confident and outgoing, would go after anything she wanted, whether it was a part in a school music concert, student class president (which she was), member of the school cultural events committee and leader of her school archery club.

Getting an idea of what kind of guys these two would like, that and hearing them gush over guys they'd seen in magazines all morning, Serena and Mina smirked as they brought up the idea of a blind date.

"I think I know the exact guys that you two would like" Mina winked "They're smart funny, one of them is really into plant life and preserving trees, he's also a good hand in the kitchen now and again"

Lita asked with curiosity "Really?"

Serena nodded "Yeah, and I have a friend who's passionate and is into a lot of music, art stuff and karate much like you are Raye"

Blushing a little, Raye asked "is he cute?"

Serena laughed as Mina said "Well why don't you find out for yourself, we told them about you two and they've asked if they can meet you for a little, shall we say, preliminary date"

"So a blind date" Lita asked with an eyebrow raised as Mina's failed attempt to be inconspicuous

Mina nodded "Yep"

"It'll be fun, you can go to dinner, talk a little and get to know a little bit more about each other" Serena said "We didn't think you two would want to do the whole double date thing, so we've 'arranged' a little something for both of you"

Raye and Lita looked between Serena and Mina as the two blonds handed them both a little white envelope with silver, love heart patterns on them as they opened their own individual date invitation which noted the venue, the date and time of which they will be meeting their mystery dates.

Serena and Mina both giggled under their breath as they cleared their throats and said "So how about we get you girls ready for your date tonight?"

With no further questions needing to be asked, they girls all took off towards Crescent Valley shopping mall in order to do some major shopping before that night arrived.

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Meanwhile in the Crescent Valley Shopping mall, Amy sat at a quaint little bistro café area, waiting with her books, book bag and a nice cup of tea to try and calm her nerves. During her online conversation with Serena, she had asked for a few tips on outfits and had turned up in a stylish light and dark blue plead skirt, with a light blue turtle neck, sleeveless shirt and a light blue, soft woollen cardigan with a beaded white lily design embroidered across the hem. She wore skin coloured tights and light blue dolly shoes adorned her feet.

Finishing her tea, Amy checked the slender silver watch that rested gracefully upon her wrist. It was 12:40, ten minutes after they had arranged to meet and although she looked about her surroundings for any sign of him, Zach was nowhere to be seen. A disappointed sigh escaped her, as Amy gathered her stuff to leave, when all of a sudden she heard hurried footsteps and the sound of heavy breathing approaching from behind her.

Turning to see what the commotion was about, Amy turned to see an out of breath Zach, bracing himself with his hands resting on his knees as he panted "Hey Amy! I…I'm so sorry I'm late, the parking lot was just so full I had to wait for a parking spot"

Straightening up, Amy finally got a good look at Zach. He looked as well presented as he always did at school, almost better. He wore black jeans, with a pair of black shoes adorning his feet, a navy blue, short sleeved checked shirt tucked into his jeans with the top few buttons undone to reveal a casual looking white vest underneath. His dirty blonde hair was in the same pony tail he always kept it in, resting over his left shoulder.

Amy felt her face growing steadily warmer as her gaze travelled back up to Zach's face to find his cheeks tinged with a subtle shade of red.

Clearing her throat, Amy finished gathering her belongings from the bistro table as she said "Um…it's ok…it is pretty busy here today, so I understand if parking is a little…you know…hard to find"

Looking about him, with something of a relieved smile upon his face, Zach sighed "Yeah, it is" his eyes then shifted to the used tea cup on the table beside her and a guilt expression crossed his features as he asked "I haven't kept you waiting long have I?"

Amy glanced back at the tea cup, then back to Zach as she blushed "Oh no, not really, I got here a little early that's all, you know, better to be early than late right?"

Zach smiled "Right"

"So, shall we go and get started then" Amy smiled

She felt Zach take her hand as he asked "Actually Amy, would it be ok if we…you know…stay and have a coffee or something?"

Amy's gaze rested on their hands, his warm fingers wrapped around her delicate hand so gently it surprised her. Noticing her gaze on their hands, Zach quickly took his hand back before stuttering "S…Sorry"

"It's ok…um…sure we can stay…I…tend to like a drink or something when I study anyway" Amy smiled

Zach smiled as he said "Me too, which leads to my next question…Coffee or Tea?"

Smiling back, Amy sat back down at the table she had been sitting at before with Zach settling down in the seat in front of her as they looked through the drinks menu and called a waitress over to take their order.

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Zach could not believe his luck! They had been sat together in the bistro café for an hour and they had gotten to know so much about each other already. He had begun to list all of her favourite and most loved things in his head, like her favourite colour was blue, her favourite flowers are water lilies, her favourite type of music was classical music, especially songs played on the violin or harp and her favourite books were The Hunger Games Series.

As they were in the same mathematics, science and English literature classes, Zach had gone over their latest homework assignments with her and gradually they had worked them out together taking notes on napkins so they knew what to write up later.

Amy had never had such a long and intellectually stimulating conversation with any other person outside of her chess club before, but within their short time together, Zach had managed to challenge her and share her theories all in one conversation. She had learned that he shared many of her interests such as classical music, as well as the more academic subjects in school such as Maths, English and the Sciences including those not vastly covered in school, such as Astronomy, Astrology etc. He also loved to read some of the same books as well as suggesting a couple that she hadn't read and thought she might be interested in reading.

One of the most surprising things that Amy found about Zach is how nice it felt to see him smile. All of the times before this, when they had encounters with each other the only expression he ever showed her were nervous, uncomfortable and sadden expressions that she had often taken to be of displeasure and dismissal…or a plain attempt at making her miserable again. Seeing him as he was now, smiling, laughing and talking to her on a normal level like he would with anyone he may know, made Amy want to see it more often.

Another hour and five cups of tea and coffee later, Zach and Amy decided they would finish studying for the day and try doing something else. They took a walk around the mall browsing mostly in book stores and music shops. After a while Zach escorted Amy to his car and they took a drive to the nearest boardwalk where they could eat ice cream and look out at the sea, enjoying the summer air.

Offering Amy a ride home, Zach opened the passenger side door for her. On the way home, as they pulled up to a set of traffic lights that had gone red, Amy turned to look at Zach and said "I had a really great time with you today, Zach"

Surprised at her words, Zach turned to face Amy, only to find her gazing back with that ever amazing smile on her lovely face as she said "Thank you for today"

"No, thank you Amy" Zach replied, with his head hung slightly

Confused by his reaction Amy asked "For what?

Zach turned to her with a humbled expression as he said with an appreciative smile "For giving me a chance to start over"

They shared something of a sweet smile before the traffic lights went green. Finally arriving at Amy's house, Amy was just unfastening her seatbelt as Zach turned to her and said "I'd really like to…you know…see you again"

Amy giggled slightly "Well of course you'll see me again Zach, a little hard not too, we go to the same school, same classes and share the same circle of friends now so…"

"No" Zach said, stopping Amy before she could continue "I mean I'd really like to do this again, just us"

Blushing at the thought of a second date with Zach, Amy replied "Oh…I see"

"Would you like to go out with me again? You know…like we have today?" Zach asked, taking Amy's slender hand within him own.

Amy felt her heart begin to race as Zach took her hand within his own. Her hand enwrapped in the same warmth from before in the bistro, only this time there was no hesitation or doubt in his gaze when Amy looked into his eyes.

She didn't know why nor did she know why she'd never thought this way of him before but something about Zach made her want to know more of him. He enticed her like no other guy at their school or any guy in general for that matter, had ever done.

At her silence, Zach lowered his gaze and turned his head away, beginning to lose hope, until he felt her slender fingers folded over his own. His gaze moved to their entwined hands and then drifted up to look at her face, only to find her looking at him with softened smile on her face. Her cheeks were tinged a soft hue of red as she replied "I would like that…very much"

After exchanging cell phone numbers, Zach walked Amy to her door, took her hand within his and placed a light kiss upon her hand. Before turning to leave, a smile adorned his handsome face, as Zach said "Then it's a date"

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Meanwhile back at Darien's place, Serena and Mina were reeling with excitement over their little double date scheme for Raye and Lita as they ran back through the door laughing "Oh My Gosh! This is going to be one interesting set up" Serena giggled

Mina squealed "I know! I can just imagine the looks on their faces now"

"Ok I hear giggling uncontrollably, what did you do?" Darien asked both suspicious and interested to hear what the girls had planned.

Serena just giggled as Mina said "let's just say that this is definitely going to be a date that none of them will forget"

"Is that a good or bad thing?" Darien asked

Winking at him in a playful fashion, Serena giggled "Patience Darien, all good things to those who wait"

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_Author's Notes:_

_Right! That has started the ball rolling again so I will try and get things at a more regular pace now and try to get the next chapter up for the end of next week. I'm trying to tie up all of the character relationships before the next major incident happens...let's just say the drama's builiding lol. I really hope that your all still enjoying this story and I will hopefully try and get a few more short stories up in the mean time as well. Thank you again for being so patient with me and I will try and get more of this finished and uploaded for you all ^_^ Till next time Guys and Girls xxx_


	18. Chapter 16

**1,2,3 Be With Me**

_Author's Notes_

_Hey guys and girls ^_^ one more newbie chapter for you, yay! I'm getting a good flow of idea in the works now so hopefully will be able to post more than one chapter next time I can post more up for you all. _

_**Disclaimer: I do not own Sailor Moon or it's characters.**_

_let me know what you think ok. Enjoy x_

* * *

><p><span><strong>Chapter 16<strong>**  
><strong>

It was now seven o clock in the evening and a very tentative Lita and Raye were all dressed and made up for their 'Mystery dates'.

Raye was looking like a red bombshell in an off the shoulders A-line red dress that stopped just above the knees, with black, rose embroidery along the bodice and waistline. She wore skin coloured tights and red high heeled shoes, a red rose clutch handbag, with a jewellery set of red garnet necklace and earrings. Her long purple hair was pinned back on one side with a red rose burette.

Lita on the other hand was a stunner in a green and black A-line dress, with black ankle boots, green ruffled clutch bag, a green bolero jacket and gold and pink rose necklace to go with her favourite rose earrings. Her hair was tied up in her classic pony tail.

As they were both going on a blind date, Raye and Lita thought it would be better to get ready at Lita's apartment….that and it would stop Raye's grandpa from asking her too many awkward questions.

Upon opening their envelopes they couldn't help but laugh as it came in two different parts. One was a letter which read:

_Good evening ladies!_

_Yep! You've guessed it!_

_As Mina and I were the one's to set you up on you_

_Mystery dates_

_We thought it would be equally as fun to make it interesting_

_For your date you will be sent to various locations in order to enjoy your date_

_With this envelope is the first location_

_Once you get there, you will find an envelope to the next location and _

_a task that must be carried out_

_Once each one is completed you must check it off _

_One rule is don't drive, you won't need your cars, your dates for the evening have offered to drive you around tonight_

_(I kinda got this from my most recent One Tree Hill study sesh with Mina, it looked fun)_

_So look at your first card, for your first location to meet your mystery date! _

_Have fun!_

_Serena xx_

Lita couldn't help but laugh as Raye rolled her eyes "Are you kidding me? She's actually going to make us do this stuff"

"Why not it sounds like awesome fun, come on lets open the envelopes" Lita said taking up her envelope.

Taking up their individual envelopes, Raye and Lita counted to three and opened them up to find their first location:

_What date is complete without your beau to be?_

_Travel to the park at Crescent Valley _

_To find the one for thee_

Without sparing the clue a second thought, Lita and Raye raced downstairs to find a cab waiting to take them to Crescent Valley Park.

* * *

><p>Upon arriving, they walked through the park and saw two guys in masks, one in wearing a black shirt and grey trouser with black shoes and the other wearing black jeans with a red shirt, black and boots. Both of them held an envelope in their hands with the girls names on them.<p>

Taking the envelope from the hands of the masked men, Lita and Raye looked in to see a letter and what looked like a check list. The letter read:

_Step one is over _

_Not a moment too late_

_Now remove the masks and take a look _

_At your date_

With something of an excited giggle, Lita and Raye put their hands on their respective date's masks "Ready Raye?" Lita asked.

Raye nodded "On the count of three…1…2…3!"

Upon lifting the masks Lita and Raye went shell shock still as they looked upon the faces of their past tormentors.

_Raye's Flashback_

_It was a cold autumn day in Crescent Valley and a 12 year old little Raye was on her way to school. She was wearing a brand new deep red dolly coat with gold buttons with two on the internal side buttoning up on the left and two more on the right to give her a regal look and a matching hat, the golden button that was used for buttons on the coat was at the centre of a lovely red poppy._

_Her father had sent it to her from one of his many business trips around the world, Raye often never wore the presents from her father as she resented his constant trips away from home, but her grandfather had encouraged her to wear it, saying that it made him smile to have such a pretty grand-daughter._

_Her long dark purple hair was plaited and rested over one shoulder with a red ribbon tied at the end and the cutest white tights and red dolly shoes to go with it._

_Raye was just a few feet from the school gates when she came across a large muddy puddle in the middle of the path. She did her best to edge around the puddle but when she got to the other side she back into something._

_Turning to face what or who she had collided with, Raye's eyes widened as her lovely amethyst eyes met with the cold stare of Jed, her school tormentor. Looking her up and down with a mean looking smirk on his face Jed chuckled "Well what do we have here, the little baby loser came dressed up today! Care to give me your lunch money now or later"_

_Raye tried to back away but remembered the large puddle behind her as she said "Leave me alone Jed! I already told you I don't have lunch money, I bring my own lunch!"_

_Jed smirked as he said "Aw yeah? Let's have a look at this lunch of yours then" and tried to snatch Raye's bag from her, but she grabbed hold of its handles trying to pull it back "Hey! Let go of my bag!"_

"_Give me your lunch loser!" Jed snapped_

_Raye cried "No! It's mine! Jed, stop it!"_

_With one hard pull, Jed tore the bag from Raye's hands and dealt a hard shove to her shoulder. Raye went tumbling back with a scream and before anyone could stop it, she went tumbling down into the large muddy puddle. Her lovely new coat, the coat that made her grandpa so happy, was now caked in mud, the shoes and hat too._

_Her eyes wide with shock began to blur as she watched Jed dig through her bag and pull out her lunch box. Upon opening it he threw most of the content of it at her as she sat in amongst the mud until he pulled out her homemade cookies. She'd made them herself to share with her friends at lunch time. He scoffed all of the cookies into his mouth and said with his mouth full "Ha! Was a rubbish lunch anyway! See ya next time baby loser! And next time bring something I can actually eat!"_

_Tears came in floods down her face as Raye watched Jed walk away, her lovely new coat, shoes and hat ruined, the contents of her bag all thrown in a puddle full of mud. Without any hesitations, Raye got up from the puddle grabbed her things together and ran all the way home, weeping heavily with every hurried step she could muster._

_End of Flashback_

With the memory of that day still lingering in her head, Raye turned to look upon the face of her 'date' for the evening.

Jed stood before her looking at her with a slight glimmer of hope and a tinge of anxiety in his gaze. He was wearing a black dinner jacket, a red button up shirt and black jeans with casual boots on his feet.

Raye was mortified, she knew that they had made some kind of truce with these guys for Serena's sake, but she would never have thought that Serena would ever pair her up with someone like Jed on a date, considering her past experiences with him.

Taking a hesitant step towards her, Jed shrugged and said nervously "Surprise!"

To mad and upset to speak, Raye turned on her heels and stormed away leaving a confused and slightly disappointed Jed to follow after her.

Meanwhile Lita was having memories of her own:

_Flashback_

_It was a lovely spring day at Crescent Valley Junior High School and Lita was out in the school gardens tending to her plants. As part of the Gardening Club the club members were all given a plot of grass and were able to plant and grow different flowers and plants. Lita's plot was filled with lovely tulips of different colours, white, pink, yellow, and some red ones too. She had just finished putting some plant food and water in a watering can when she turned to see someone trampling all over her lovely flowers._

_Running over to the plot, Lita cried "Stop! Please stop your ruining my flowers!"_

_Turning to face her, Lita met with the fact of Nathan, a frequent tormentor of hers for a long while. Looking at her with a malicious smirk, Nathan stamped on each one of her beautiful tulips, stamping and treading them into the ground, each tread causing more tears to well up in Lita's eyes, until there was nothing but a mess of crushed petals and stems all over the ground beneath his feet._

"_Look Lameo Lita's here and her stupid flowers are all dead" Nathan laughed maliciously as he stomped and jumped one more time on the destroyed flowers beneath his feet._

_A great sense of anger rose in Lita's chest and before she knew it, she was on top of Nathan trying this claw at him, the whole time Nathan was trying to hold her back. Suddenly a teacher heard the commotion and came running over._

"_Lita! What is this all about? Stop this right now!" the teacher scolded_

_Lita screamed "HE RUINED IT! HE RUINS EVERYTHING I DO AND NO ONE EVER SEE'S IT!"_

_Tearing her away from Nathan the Teacher shouted "That is quite enough! Principal's Office! Now!"_

"_He's the one who just destroyed my tulip garden and I'm the one getting in trouble?" Lita shouted back "This is not far! I didn't do anything wrong"_

"_You were fighting and that counts as doing something wrong! Now get going! Principal's Office Now!" the teacher yelled_

_Lost for any other protest, Lita took one last look at Nathan's smug face and turned swiftly, angry tears running down her face as she ran to the Principal's office for yet another incident that wasn't her doing._

_End of Flashback_

Angered by the memory that just played out in her head, Lita gave a frustrated groan as she turned to leave, when Nathan's hand on her wrist stopped her.

"Please Lita, don't you run off too" Nathan pleaded

Lita turned to face Nathan "Give me one good reason why I shouldn't"

Nathan fell silent, but as Lita turned to leave again, Nathan exclaimed "Because I owe you one"

Confused by this answer, Lita turned back to face Nathan "What?"

Stepping closer to Lita, Nathan said "For trampling your flowers in the school gardens, for pulling your hair and making you cry in class, for getting you in trouble so many times for something you didn't do…I owe you"

Lita was lost for words as Nathan continued "I was an idiot back then, if I had any idea that I would end up thinking of you the way I do now, I think I would have thought twice about all the times I was…you know…a jerk ass to you…as you and Raye so frequently put it"

A smirk adorned Lita's face at the term she so often used on him. Nathan chuckled at her reaction as he said "And I know I've been driving you crazy the last few weeks, what with the stalking and pick up lines, bumping into you in the hall way trying to be clever"

"Not so clever" Lita added "Especially when you turned thinking I was behind you and hit a pillar"

"Yeah that was stupid wasn't it?" Nathan asked shaking his head, causing Lita to smother a laugh with her hand, as Nathan said "But that's how far I'm willing to go Lita…I just want to show you that although I was a jerk ass when I was a kid, I'm actually not a bad guy…I don't go around school picking up girls, nor am I interested in any other girl, the way I am with you"

Lita looked at him in surprise as he said "I know you're probably going to think this is typical, childhood tormentor, got older and is suddenly into you but I'm not out to mess around…the fact is I really like you Lita, have done for a while now actually…and was wondering if maybe you'd want to hang out a little more…you know just us?"

Looking him over, Lita took her time to think it over. He was pretty cute, with his chestnut brown wavy hair, stopping just below his shoulders, dressed in a black button down shirt, grey trouser and black shoe. '_I suppose he does look good in smart clothes_' Lita thought

Her eyes travelled back up to his face, until she met Nathan's gaze. She could see how anxious he was, with a glimmer of hope. Thinking it over, Lita sighed "Well I suppose Serena and Mina would be disappointed to find out their hard work had gone to waste"

Nathan looked at her with a slight smile "So does that mean?"

"Yes, we can carry on with the date" Lita shrugged with a smile "Might as well see what else those two have planned"

With that Lita looked in the envelope and pulled out the checklist and letter that explained more about what came next.

* * *

><p>Meanwhile half way across the park, Jed was still trailing after Raye as she stormed ahead of him. Finally close enough, Jed took hold of her wrist "Raye, please! Can't you just give me one chance?"<p>

"To what?" Raye shot back as she turned to face him "Have you take something meaningful to me and trash it!"

Jed just sighed and said "Raye, listen I…"

"No you listen!" Raye spat, cutting Jed off mid-sentence "Do you think it was easy for me as a kid, having to put up with all that? I had enough going on in my life and the sad part is, I very rarely got nice things, so just once in a while when I did get something special, something nice that was just for me, it made me so happy, that I wanted to share that happy moment with my friends"

Jed hung his head, his sandy blonde bangs hiding his eyes as he listened to Raye continue "But there was just one problem with that wasn't there Jed? Because every time I thought I could have just one happy moment at school with my friends, I'd find you waiting at the school gates, or the door of the cafeteria and the class room and before I could even step foot in the door to anywhere that was surrounded by people you'd always strike first! And you'd wreck the only happiness I felt in a long time all for the fact that you, for some reason or another had to torment someone!"

"Raye please just hear me out" Jed pleaded, every word striking him like a fist to the gut

"Why?" Raye shot back, tears forming in her eyes, turning her head away from him to try and hide them "So you can turn my first date into a cruel joke too?"

"No" Jed exclaimed before putting a gentle hand to Raye's chin raising her head to face him again. Seeing the tears in her eyes, Jed felt a sharp pain flash through his heart. Softening his voice, Jed tried again "No, I just want a chance"

Shaking her head free of his hand, Raye said irritably "for what?"

Jed thought back to a conversation he'd had with Serena earlier that day

_Flashback to earlier that afternoon_

_After hanging out with Darien, Nathan, Mina and Serena earlier that afternoon at the Crescent Valley Bowling Alley, the guys were just talking over all of the things that they felt guilty for from when they were little that they wish that could make up for somehow._

_Jed went on to tell the girls about the day Raye wore an adorable red coat, hat and shoes to school and how he'd terrorised her, took her bag and shoved her back into a muddy puddle. He also trailed off a list of other nice things that she had brought into school and how he'd managed to sabotage every last one of them before she'd even really entered the school or room she was about to enter into. _

_Sighing heavily, Jed shook his head "Even now I can't get the image of her sitting in that puddle out of my head, or the tears running down her face, I guess I never thought of her as the kind of girl who would get so upset over that kind of stuff"_

"_Well forgive me for saying this Jed but if you think that then you really don't know that much about Raye at all" Serena said looking him directly in the eye_

_Mina looked between her cousin and Jed put her hand on Serena's wrist cautiously "uh Serena, maybe you shouldn't…"_

"_No Mina, if he likes Raye as much as he's letting on, he has to understand what damage needs to be remedied" Serena said before turning back to Jed with sincere sadness in her eyes as she said "Jed do you have any idea what those things meant to Raye as a child"_

_Shaking his head, Jed kept his eyes on Serena as she conferred with Mina before saying "They were things that were given to her by her grandparents or things that they liked most"_

_Guilt consumed him as Serena continued "You see, Raye's dad is a successful business man and dedicates his life to his work, which means for Raye, he's never at home, never really around for her and her mother was very ill and died whilst Raye was still very young. So being raised by her grandparents and cousin Chad, it was like becoming part of a real family and anything that comes from them is precious and would make her so happy because they don't have a lot but with what they can spare they always put Raye first"_

_Jed raised his head from his hands as he asked "So that red coat and hat…?"_

_Serena shook her head "No the coat, hat and shoes were from her father, he often sends her gifts for her birthday and Christmas, but her Grandpa enjoyed seeing her in them, it made him happy, which made them special to her"_

_Jed felt so bad, he was lost or words, he was about to excuse himself when he felt a pair of hands place themselves gently upon his. Looking up, he found Serena gazing back with a sympathetic smile "I know from being around you now that you're not like that now Jed, and I know you can turn things around with Raye, but the one thing you have to remember with her is that it's not what you say to her that determines whether you'll win her over, it's making the right gestures…putting your feelings into action, not just saying them out loud"_

_Jed felt something in his hands as Serena let go. A small black, rectangular shaped box sat in his hands. Looking to Serena he asked "What's this?"_

_Smiling with Mina, Serena said "A very special item of Raye's that we managed to salvage and restore to its former glory, if you want to win her over, try giving that to her, you'll remember well enough when you see it"_

_End of flashback._

Shaking out of his thoughts, Jed placed his hand over his heart, feeling the weight of the small black box in his breast pocket. Raye now faced him as she repeated "You want a chance? For what?"

Jed looked her in the eyes, his heart aching as he said "To show you how sorry I am, to show you that I'm not as bad as you think, to show that I actually care about the things I did and what it might have done to you"

Raye looked at him, seemingly unconvinced as Jed said "I know you may act tough Raye, that although we may have made a truce and you act happy in front of your friends while we're all together as a group that you still keep your guard up when you're near me"

Hanging his head, Jed sighed heavily, his voice quivering with emotion as he said "You put on a front so you don't offend anyone but you don't need to hide it from me…because the truth is Raye…I can still see her, that 12 year old little girl, in her new red coat sat in a puddle covered in mud and bits of food…and tears all over her face..."

Jed lifted his head to face her again, the weight of his guilt sitting on his chest as he looked Raye in the eyes, hands clenched into tight fists as he said "I see her all the time…I see her walking towards the gates, in her red coat, shoes…and that cute little red hat…I see what I did to her but the thing that plays over in my head…is the picture of her sitting in a puddle, caked in mud with tears trailing down her face"

Raye turned to look at him fully, her eyes wide with shock as she saw the guilt and sadness in his gaze as she listened to him say "that image never goes away and now that I know just how much I like you, it plays over in my head all the time, whether I'm around you or not"

Shocked at his words, Raye stuttered "Did…did you…just say that…you like me?"

Nodding in response, Jed said "More than you know…in fact so much so I even have this for you"

Taking the black box out of his pocket, Jed opened it to look at the contents, before walking closer to Raye and turning it towards her. A gasp escaped her lips as Raye looked upon a golden locket with a beautiful red rose on the front, a red ruby embedded in the centre of it, sitting on a delicate chain of gold.

Looking at Jed with wide eyes, shining with surprise Raye asked "Is this…?"

Nodding again, with his head hung, once again obscuring his face from full view, Jed said "Yeah"

With hesitant hands, Raye picked the locket out of the box and slowly opened the locket. There lying in her delicate hands, was a worn but still very clear picture of her mother, the veil and tiara from her wedding day, smiling up at her from inside the locket. Raye felt a wave of happiness consume her as she muttered "My…my mom's locket"

Her happiness soon shifted to slight confusion as she looked to Jed and said "but you…"

"I snatched it from you that day outside the cafeteria" Jed said flinching at the memory of his own actions "and crushed it under my foot"

Raye looked to the locket and then back at Jed "but you crushed it completely, the rose on the front was broken to the point of no repair, how did you…"

Looking up at Jed, Raye found him standing at a distance, his hands in his pockets, head hanging down, and shoulders tense daring not to look at her. Walking over to him, Raye gently tugged on the hem of his jacket. Lifting his head to face her, Jed found her looking at him, her amethyst eyes shining with gratitude and endearing surprise as she said "you brought this back for me?"

Withdrawing a little, Jed nodded "Serena and Mina helped a lot with getting it repaired, but I felt as I'm the one who broke it, then I should…"

Suddenly, Jed felt a pair of slender wrapped gently around his middle. Turning his head to look down at the arms encircling him, he found Raye holding him close, her head on his heart as she said "Thank you…you have no idea what this means to me…thank you for bring it back"

Jed froze! Here he was pouring his heart out to the girl he'd been crazy about for a long while, and here she was, on a midsummer's evening Crescent Valley Park, holding him closely. Something that, after so many wrong doings on his part, he thought would never happen. Revelling in the feeling of her pressed closely to him, Jed went to wrap his arms around her, when all of a sudden Raye pulled away hastily, blushing madly as she stuttered "uh…sorry…I didn't mean to…you know…hang on too long"

Dazed by the feeling of actually having Raye in his arms for a moment, Jed shook his head to clear it as he cleared his throat "Uh…no…that's ok…don't worry about it" a nice tinge of red staining his own cheeks as he turned his head away slightly.

"So" Raye said, playing with the black jewellery box in her hands as she spoke "I still have that envelope from earlier, do you still want to…carry on with the date?"

Surprised by this sudden turn of events, Jed asked "you'd still want to do that?"

Shrugging as she walked back in the direction that Lita and Nathan were, Raye said "Well what can I say, when a guy is willing to go that far to make a mends, it would be kind of rude to not give him one chance"

Jed felt his heart sore as Raye gestured to the way she was dressed as she added "Besides, I didn't go to all this trouble for nothing, so what do you say? Would you still want to go on this date with me?"

Walking over to her, Jed smiled warmly "Well with all the effort you've put in to look as gorgeous as you do, how can I say no?"

Sharing a smile, Raye put her mom's necklace around her neck and then, pulling out the crumpled up envelope from her clutch purse, pulled out the letter and the checklist inside before setting off with Jed to enjoy the rest of the evening.


	19. Chapter 17

**1,2,3 Be With Me**

_Author's Note:_

_Hey there peeps its Maisie here ^_^ sorry about the delays on this one. I won't bore you with the details of my life but it is just life in general getting in the way right now crappy boyfriends, moving up and down the country etc so this one might take a while to finish but I will have more time to work on it now I'm free and single to do so (Yay! Single life) anywho here's the next chapter._

_Just to warn you all now I realise how long this story is taking to finish lol so from now on the chapters may get a little longer because I've got a lot of ground I want to cover with this one and have realise (before now as well) that its taking Waaaaaaay too long lol so I will make sure to fit more into my chapters and basically do what your all thinking which is "Oh for goodness sake Maisie get to the ruddy point!" lol XD_

_I can only thank you so so so so so so so so soooooooooo much for your patience if your still reading this you are all awesome!_

**_DISCLAIMER: I DO NOT OWN THE SAILOR MOON OR ANY OF IT'S CHARACTERS!_**

_Enjoy ^_^_

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><p><span><strong>Chapter 17<strong>

Well as it turns out, Raye was enjoying herself a lot more than she had anticipated that she would. They had looked in the envelope and found a checklist of places to visit as well as tasks to perform. The first one:

_Task 1) To buy your date some flowers_

So travelling down town to the nearest florist, Jed bought Raye a beautiful bouquet of white, Casablanca lilies, which unbeknownst to him, were her favourite flowers.

The second task was to find the location that was displayed on a small map that had been printed off from Google Maps with the name of the venue scribbled out in black marker. Following the walking instructions, Jed and Raye soon found themselves at a lovely little, restaurant with classy waiting staff, candles and lovely floral centrepieces on every table and best of all alive in house band, playing soft music.

In front of the stage was a small dance floor with various couples, young and old dancing upon it. Approaching the host at just inside of the door, Jed and Raye looked at the letter and uttered the name that was listed on the letter "Hi we apparently have a reservation, under the name, Red"

Looking at the reservation list and then looking back up at them with a smile, the host said in a welcoming manner "Ah yes! The young couple we've been waiting on. Right this way please"

Following the host, Jed and Raye walked towards the rear of the restaurant to a table that was placed right next to the window looking over the lake in Crescent Valley Park with the sun just setting in the distance behind it. The centrepiece on the table was made up of white roses and Casablanca lilies with two candles at its centre.

Jed pulled out Raye's chair for her and as they looked over the menu, they shared casual conversation and laughed.

An envelope was left on the table with their names on it and when opened, Raye and Jed laughed to find a game of twenty questions in there. The questions mostly comprised of what things they liked, favourite hobbies movies and music. The music question was a big hit, Raye and Jed talked for a long time about the different kinds of music that they liked, the bands they like and whether they played any instruments. Raye was pleasantly surprised to hear that Jed liked to play the guitar "I know that sounds typical right?"

Raye shook her head "No it really doesn't, but I've got to ask?"

Jed leaned in as Raye did the same before asking "Electric or Acoustic, which is better?"

"Oh now that is a difficult one! Electric is awesome you get to play all kinds of great rifts and rock ballads on those" Raye laughed as she watched him air guitar slightly, before he said "but acoustic has me hooked hands down, Electric is cool now and again to have fun with it but I like the sound of a good acoustic guitar, especially when I'm writing songs about yo…um people I like"

Jed blushed furiously, before Raye smiled "well maybe you can play something for me some time?"

Feeling the pressure on his chest lighten with relief and a warm smile spread across his face, Jed said "I would play for you any time Raye"

As the night went on, they enjoyed a lovely dinner, talked a little more and found that they shared a love of music and martial arts in common. After a while the in house band started playing a real jazzy tune. Looking over at Raye, Jed saw her face light up when the music started and couldn't resist taking a gentle hold on her hand as he moved to stand "Come on!"

Pulling her to her feet, Jed led Raye to the dance floor and they danced the rest of the evening away.

* * *

><p>With Lita and Nathan, things led in similar and yet completely different directions to Raye and Jed's date.<p>

At the flower shop, Nathan bought Lita a bouquet of pink tulips and much like Raye did, found a google map print out of a certain location in the park.

The location found was at the far side of Crescent Valley Park, right by the lake out under the stars. There was a picnic bench with a red and white checker table cloth over it and a small wicker basket on the top. Upon opening the basket, Lita and Nathan found a selection of delicious looking breads, cheeses, pâté crackers with two plastic picnic plates, knives and two napkins and a bottle of non-alcoholic sparkling wine accompanied by two plastic champagne flutes, as well as another envelope inside.

Inside the envelope, again was the game of twenty questions, focussing questions around their interests and what they like to wear, read and do. They shared various interests, one of which being food. They talked for an hour alone on baking and different styles of bread they liked. Lita shared her dream of wanting to own her own bakery/café when she was older and strived to save all the money from her part time job towards making it happen.

"It's going to be amazing! I'll serve them all of my favourite baked goods! Cupcakes, cheesecakes, Apple Turnovers, Cinnamon buns, and I'll even try my hand at one of those traditional English teas, with scones and jam" Lita said, her face lighting up as she told Nathan all of the details of her dream "It won't be a very big place, just a small café with a bakery. I always imagined having the kind of place that's sort of the hidden gem in town, no one knows it's there at first but when they find it they, feel at home and want to come back all the time"

"Lita that sounds, so amazing!" Nathan said with a warm expression on his face. "I love that you feel so passionately about what the things you can do, it makes me want to try a hell of a lot harder with my own dreams"

Lita started to share out the food onto their plates as she asked "What dreams would they be?"

Nathan told Lita all about wanting to be a successful Astronomer. He had always been fascinated by the stars and planets since her was little and was well on his way with his grades at school. "I don't know what it is with that kind of stuff but it just amazes me that could be more to our universe than just the few planets and stars that we know of now, eventually there could be another habitable planet somewhere out amongst all of this" Nathan gestured to the clear and starry sky overhead before looking back at Lita "And that I might be the one to discover things like that is just insane but in a good way, you know"

Lita couldn't help but blush, Nathan was a lot deeper than she thought he was. Smiling inwardly to herself, Lita nodded in response to Nathan and was about to keep talking with him about other common interests like Karate and gardening when all of a sudden Nathan let out a gasp of pure excitement "Did you see that?"

Turning to look at Nathan, she saw him looking upward at the sky, his expression much like that of a child looking at fireworks. Looking to the sky as well, Lita asked "See what?"

Taking Lita by the hand, Nathan pulled her up from her seat at the picnic bench and stood her in front of him, his hand placed on her shoulder, keeping her close as he pointed up to the sky and said softly in her ear "Watch the sky, pretty lady"

Lita kept looking, and after a while of nothing happening, was about to turn away, when a slight but stunning strand of white light, streaked across the sky. A gasp escaped her lips as Lita's eyes filled with enchantment as one after the other, shooting stars streaked across the sky.

Still holding her close, Nathan whispered "Amazing isn't it?"

"It's beautiful" Lita gasped as another star streaked across the dark sky

Nathan whispered again "Like you are"

Seeing Lita turn abruptly to him, Nathan groaned as he grimaced slightly "Oh man! That was bad right? Too much cheese for a first impression"

Lita looked at Nathan in surprise, taking in the slight blush and embarrassed amusement. A hue of soft pink gracing her lovely face, Lita shrugged and said "It was a little cheesy…but it's not often other guys give me a compliment like that, they all think I'm too much of a tomboy to be a girl"

Nathan chuckled as he put his hands in his pocket, in a casual way "Well in case you didn't notice, I'm not just any other guy Lita"

"No you're the kind of guy who would copy his stalker friend's method of scoring to get a girl" Lita laughed

Nathan shook his head, hiding a laugh "Ok yeah that was a mistake on my part, especially if I knew that you would karate drop me if I got caught…damn that floor hurt"

Lita tilted her head in mock understanding "It so does, doesn't it?"

Smiling wider than he had in a while, Nathan laughed off Lita's comment before turning to her with all the honesty he could muster "See? You say any other guy is willing to overlook you without even stopping to look properly. And I can tell you I'm not like those guys Lita, because when I walk into school in the morning and see you in the hall on my way to class, I can't help but stop and look, thinking 'Oh My God! That girl is just…amazing'"

There was a slight pause as Lita looked at Nathan with bemused and yet softened expression. Shifting a little uneasily, Nathan cleared his throat as he stuttered bashfully "ok…so um, after that…um we should probably…"

Before he could turn away, Nathan felt his heart skip a beat and became shell shocked still as he felt Lita's lips, warm and soft pressed lightly against his cheek.

Pulling back Lita looked at him with a softened and warm smile as she said "You know with shooting stars, you're supposed to make a wish"

Shaking out of his initial surprised state, Nathan nodded "Yeah, you are"

"It may sound crazy but do you want to know what I wished for?" Lita asked staying so tantalisingly close.

Tentative hands took hold of Lita's raising on of them to his lips as Nathan asked "No what?"

Lita smiled as light shivers, deliciously travelled through her at the feel of Nathan's warm lips on her finger "That I can spend more time with you after tonight"

Nathan's eyes shot but to Lita's lovely face to see it smiling back at him. A wide and happy smile breaking across his handsome features as he said softly "Me too"

And so overall, the date night that had been anxiously awaited, had a rocky start, but two lovely young ladies and went home with thoughts of the boys who had once tormented them as children, eagerly anticipating their next encounter.

* * *

><p>Pacing the floor of Darien's living room, Mina huffed "oh I wonder how they are getting on"<p>

Darien laughed as he sat comfortably on his couch "Knowing Raye and Lita they probably got really mad when they found out their dates for the evening were Jed and Nathan"

"I wouldn't worry Mina" Serena said thumping Darien playfully for his words "I'm sure all is going well, beside neither of us have received a call from either of them saying things like 'how could you?', 'Why have you done this to me?', or 'I hate you!' so we're good"

Mina sighed "I guess you're right, but it is sooooo boring waiting to find out how things have gone, I want to know now"

Serena smirked "Well I wouldn't worry too much about that Mina"

"Why?" Mina asked giving her cousin a confused look

Serena giggled as the doorbell to Darien's house rang and she said "you'll see, why don't you see who's at the door Mina?"

Mina looked at Serena with an amused expression "It's Darien's house, shouldn't he be the one getting the door?"

"Just trust me Mina" Serena winked "you really ought to answer that door"

Still confused, Mina left to answer the door just as her cousin had asked when Darien leaned closer to her with a suspicious expression "What are you up too?"

"Shhh!" Serena hushed Darien placing her hand over his mouth as she said "Listen"

They heard Mina answer the door only for silence to follow, which had Serena smiling as she whispered in Darien's ear "And that Darien is called instant attraction"

"What? How do you know the person at the door is a guy?" Darien chuckled before walking out into the hall, to see his ever faithful friend, Malcolm standing in the door way, his eyes never leaving Mina for a moment. Mina was very much in the same state, with a soft rosy colour to her cheeks as she stuttered "Um….h…hi"

Serena entered the hall walking casually over to the door "Oh hi Malcolm, may I introduce you to my cousin Mina"

Malcolm smiled at the sound of her name "Mina, cute name"

Mina blushed as she replied coyly "Why thank you, you're not too bad yourself"

Serena smiled as they exchanged flirtatious smiles before saying "Mina was just expressing how bored she was, but it's been so long since I've been here to Crescent Valley I wouldn't know where's still fun to take her…I wouldn't suppose you'd mind showing Mina around would you Malcolm?"

"I would love to" Malcolm said "Mina want to come for a ride with me?"

Mina tucked a strand of hair behind her ear as she said "I would love that"

Taking Malcolm's hand, Mina took the her little orange handbag from Serena and saw her cousin turn back to her and mouth "Thank you!" before turning back to Malcolm with a warm smile as they stepped back outside the house as Malcolm said "are you guys coming too?"

Darien saw this as a chance to get Serena to himself for a while as he stepped forward leaning on the door close to Serena's back as she stood in front of him "No we're good here, I'm kinda low on cash at the moment and Serena said she was feeling kind of tired so we're just gonna stay here"

Thinking that Darien had caught onto her plan to set Mina up with Malcolm, Serena smiled at him with a wink as she gave a big yawn and stretch "Oh yeah all that running around for Lita and Raye's dates has wiped me out"

With that Malcolm opened the passenger side door of his car for Mina and there drove off for an evening of fun.

Turning to Darien, Serena dusted off her hands in a mock fashion and jokingly went to walk out the door as she said "Well my work here is done, see ya Darien"

Grabbing Serena around the waist, Darien pulled Serena close as he laughed "wait get back here you"

Giggling madly as Darien began to tickle her, Serena turned in Darien's arms, her hands placed on his chest as their eyes met. After a few moments of standing within each other's arms, they abruptly pulled away, a nice hue of red adorning both of their faces, as Serena thought "_oh my gosh my heart is beating like crazy! That was…we were…so close, is it weird that we were that close…I mean it felt nice but we were so close!_"

Darien took some time to collect himself as his own mind went haywire and his heart raced "_Oh man I held on to her for too long, is that bad? Will she think that's bad? I hope she isn't weirded out by it, it felt good though, so good I didn't know whether I would let go, but I better keep myself in check! _

Turning back to each other, they shared something of nervous but amused laugh as Darien closed his front door and gestured for her to go inside "So what do you want to do now?" he asked.

Shrugging casually, Serena said "I dunno, getting a little hungry though, is it ok if we have dinner soon"

"Funny you should ask that?" Darien smiled, as he took Serena's hand and led her into the kitchen. A surprised gasp escaped Serena's lips as she saw the small dining table set up for two, a single rose in a small vase and two lit tea light candles served as a centrepiece with the plates, cutlery, napkins folder into fans and two wine glasses set out just right. The faint smell of something delicious filled the room as Serena spotted that the oven was on and a bowl of fresh crisp salad sat near the centre of the table.

Turning to Darien in with a surprised expression, Serena asked "Did you do all this?"

Nodding as he moved to pull out her chair for her, Darien gave something of a coy smile as he said "Well Mina helped me a little with the table, but I have been told I make an amazing lasagne"

"By who?" Serena smiled

Shrugging a little nonchalantly before answering "I won't lie it was my mom" Serena laughed as he chuckled "which is saying something coming from my mom because as you know she's queen of the kitchen in our house"

Looking up at Darien from her seat she saw him blush with a tinge of embarrassment as he said "I tried to score some real wine from my parents, but they said we'd have to stick with the non-alcoholic kind as we're still under age"

Smiling warmly, Serena shrugged it off "its ok I can't handle really wine anyway, daddy let me try a small glass of white wine at Christmas and it went straight to my head, I couldn't handle it"

"Wow, really?" Darien asked with laugh "I mean were you ok?"

Serena shuddered at the memory as she groaned "let's just say I ended up in bed early that night"

Watching Darien pour the 'not real' wine, Serena looked over the table and back up at him as she said "I can't believe you went to all this trouble, is there a special occasion I'm missing here?"

Darien stammered as he took his seat opposite Serena "Well no…in a way yes…maybe…I mean not really…uh…" seeing her begin to giggle at his reaction to her question Darien chuckled "I'm failing at this aren't I?"

"A little but its cute watching you try" Serena laughed

Shaking his head, Darien smiled "I just thought that we've rarely had an opportunity where it's been just the two of us together since we met each other again…I hope you don't think I'm selfish for saying this but I've kind of being looking forward to a time when I can just talk and hang out with you again…like we used to"

A warm and endearing smile adorned Serena's lovely face as she nodded "Is that why you did all this tonight?"

Feeling his nerves starting to set in, Darien nodded as he played with the stem of his wine glass "Yeah, pretty pathetic huh?" he laughed nervously

Reaching across the table, Serena placed her hand over Darien's as she smiled warmly for him "No I think it's really sweet"

Looking at Serena with a warm expression, Darien turned his hand to take Serena's as she said "And to be honest, I've kind of been waiting to get you to myself too"

Surprised by her choice of words, Darien smirked "Really?"

Hearing her choice of words for herself, Serena pulled back as she stuttered nervously "Uh…well, I meant in order to talk and hang out like you just said, nothing weird…oh no but that sounded really bad didn't it"

Chuckling at her little meltdown in composure, Darien took Serena's hand back in his as he laughed "Serena relax, I understand what you meant don't worry, I didn't take it as anything weird"

Bringing her hand down from her forehead to rest on her bright red cheeks, Serena asked "Are you sure?"

"Yeah I'm sure" Darien chuckled "and to be honest I don't mind having you all to myself either" he finished with a charming wink as he placed a chaste kiss on the back of Serena's hand.

The feeling of Darien's lips on her slender hand, sent shivers of pleasure through her as the tinge of red gracing Serena's lovely face softened, her eye shining with a warm and endearing admiration. Just as they fell into a contented silence, their eyes connecting over the dinner table, hands entwined together, the loud shrill ringing of Mrs Shield's chicken shaped egg timer cut through the brief intimate moment they both shared as Darien reluctantly excused himself from the table. Serving the lasagne from the oven, Darien and Serena talked and laughed together over dinner, discussing all of the things they had gotten up to over the last few weeks they'd been apart.

After sharing a lovely dinner together, and Serena helping to dry and put away the dishes, they adjourned to the living room where they watched movies, enjoyed the ever familiar banter that they so naturally fell into when together and then after that they got into talking about dancing and Darien told Serena he wasn't a good dancer.

"Are you serious?" Serena chuckled "are you telling me the ladies man can't dance"

Darien tickled her "I am not a ladies man! And no I can't dance, I've never really thought about it until now"

Giggling as she straightened up on the couch, Serena stood from the couch as she put the radio on to a soft piece of music "Well we can't have that now can we, not when they'll probably be lines of young ladies, just waiting to dance with you"

"I don't think that'll bother me too much" Darien chuckled "seeing as I don't dance"

Serena rolled her eyes as she made a tutting sound "Oh come on Darien everyone can dance, it's just all about rhythm, come on get up we're gonna dance"

"No I think I'm good on the couch" Darien patted the couch he was sitting on as he said "Couches don't dance either, we have a mutual understanding which works so well"

Laughing at Darien's choice of words, Serena grabbed his hand and pulled Darien off of the couch into a standing position "Come on Darien, learning to slow dance is not going to kill you! I may not be an expert at couple dancing but I've been told by the gentleman at the old folk's home in St Artemis retirement home, that I am a good dancer"

Darien teased "And how many toes did you have to step on to get the title of 'Good dancer'"

"One but he tried to cope a feel of my backside whilst we were practising" Serena looked off to one side with a smirk "So I may or may not have accidently on purpose stepped on his toes"

Laughing as he tried to pull away, Darien smiled "Ok not that I would do that because you would murder me if I did and so would your dad so I'm going to return to the safety of the couch"

Grabbing Darien's wrist Serena laughed "No no it wasn't that bad, Mr Peterson is renowned for touching the ladies nurses' bottoms when they do their pill rounds for the afternoon, but I'm not that bad of a dancer I promise"

Rolling his eyes with a reluctant sigh, Darien groaned "ugh do I have to do this?"

"Yes! Now come back here" Serena said pulling Darien back to her and placed his left hand on her waist and took his right hand in hers, and went through the steps for a slow box step dance. Once he'd gotten used to the steps, Darien couldn't help but enjoy it as he started twirling Serena around and dipping her as they had more fun with it, pulling her back in, holding her close to him as they stood still, catching their breath as the soft music around them faded to silence.

Their hearts racing, their eyes meeting each other's gaze, Serena and Darien stood within each other's arms, his hand moving to stroke her delicate face as he inched closer. His eyes looked over her lovely face once more before closing his eyes and inching closer towards her lips. Just as their lips were a mere inch from touching, a light musical tone rang through the air as Serena gasped, pulling back, shyly tucking a strand of her gorgeous blonde hair behind her ear, her face tinged a soft pink as she cleared her throat and muttered "Excuse me a moment"

Looking through her handbag on the couch, Serena answered her phone only to find it was her figure skating coach, Miss Kitty. As Serena sat talking to her coach, Darien went into the kitchen and washed some water over his face as he thought "_Oh man that was intense, I've never been this way with any other girl before_" placing his fingers to his lips, as the feeling of having Serena so close to him was still fresh, the feel of her in his arms now turning to a hungry ache in his heart "_She smells so sweet, and I could happily dance with her forever if it means I can hold her like that again, oh man Serena, you don't know what you're doing to me"_

"Hey" Came Serena's sweet and bashful voice from behind him. Turning to see her lovely face still adorning that soft tinge of pink as she leaned against the door frame of the kitchen door "that was my coach, she says the date for my try out has been finalised"

At the mention of her Olympic try out, Darien snapped to attention as she said "it's in the next two weeks on Saturday"

Thinking over the dates in his head, Darien gasped as he realised "that's the night of the Home Coming dance at Crescent Valley High"

Biting the bullet, Darien took a deep breath before walking over to Serena and taking her hands within his as he said "Serena, would it be ok if I make you a deal?"

With an adorably curious tilt of the head, Serena asked "What kind of deal?"

Bracing himself for an answer he probably wouldn't like, Darien said "that after your try out, successful or otherwise, you'll go to the Home Coming Dance with me…as my date"

Serena's eyes widened in surprise as Darien threaded his fingers of his right hand through hers, taking a strand of her hair and letting it run through the fingers of his left hand like silk. There was a softness in his expression as he looked at her almost beseechingly awaiting her answer.

Serena couldn't deny that what had happened between them a few moments ago was something new, but in a way she liked it, something about having Darien holding her close, his fingers stroking against her face like they had, made her heart race like it had never done before. A soft smile adorned her face, her cheeks still had a remaining pink hue to them as she asked "My try out is some time in the afternoon, what time does the dance at your school start?"

"At 7 but we don't need to be on time" Darien said as he gently caressed Serena's hands within his "I just want to be with you on that night, no matter what happens at your try out" looking at Serena with the same pleading expression "So please, Serena go with me to the dance after your try out?"

Feeling excitement and something else fluttering in her heart at the thought of Darien asking her on a date, Serena nodded her head "Ok, it's a deal"

Darien lifted Serena's hands to his lips, placing chaste kisses on each of her fingers as he lead her back over to the couch, talking about her fastly approaching Olympic try-out.

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><p><span><em>Author's Notes:<em>

_Again looking to get down to the point of all this so the chapters may be longer but I'll make sure to get the other chapters up fairly soon. Sadly the plotlines for this one were on the Ex's computer but I've got a rough idea of what I want to happen in my head so will make sure to note them down somewhere again._

_Until next time folks ^_^_


	20. Chapter 18

**1,2,3 Be With Me**

_Author's Notes:_

_Hey guys ^_^ another chapter for ya. _

**_DISCLAIMER: I DO NOT OWN SAILOR MOON! Just so we're clear! _**

_Enjoy!_

* * *

><p><span><strong>Chapter 18<strong>

Over the last week the girls had spent more and more time with their respective suitors and man did they feel the change. Raye and Jed now spent lunch times together, Nathan was now joining in at Gardening clubs and Home economics classes with Lita, Amy and Zach had fast become study and coffee buddies and Mina and Malcolm hit it off from day one, regularly driving back and forth between Crescent Valley and St Artemis to see each other. However Serena and Darien we're living under the same roof…literally.

With Serena's try-out approaching in less than a week, Serenity had asked Maria if it would be alright for Serena to stay with her and her family over the course of that week as Serena wanted to practice in the ice rink based in Crescent Valley.

All but delighted to have Serena's staying with them, Maria went to the trouble of preparing their basement living area for her to use. It consisted of a small lounge area, with a guest bedroom off to one side and a small bathroom, to the left of the guest bedroom, decorated in neutral earth colours like sand beige and red oak furnishings. In the bedroom, was a red oak double bed with plain white sheets and floral bedding, a small linen basket sat at the end of the bed with fresh sheets and bedding in it. Two tall red oak wardrobes sat to the left of the room in the centre of the wall, with a simple but elegant vanity dressing table sitting in between the two of them, the one nearest the wall containing fresh towels. A small crystallized lamp shade, made the basement guest room brighter, with a rose patterned rug in colours of cream and red running under the bed. It also had an internal door to the small bathroom to the left of the guest bedroom

The small bathroom was medium sized and was by all definitions a 'shoe box' style room. It had a lovely Victorian style bath tub and shower modern shower cubicle which lined the right hand side of the room with a toilet and sink on the left of the room. There was a little mirrored medicine cabinet fixed about the sink and a small set of basket drawers placed in a small space located between the shower and the bath filled with shampoo, conditioner and all other bathroom essentials.

The main basement foyer/lounge was an open space with a rose patterned carpet, a brown leather three piece suite with a three seat couch a small entertainment centre with a standard size flat screen with built in cable channels and in the small plate glass cupboard on the entertainment centre was a PlayStation 3 mainly used for watching dvds on but Maria assured Serena she and her friends could play some games on it if they wished. A small pane glass coffee table rested in between the Entertainment centre and the couch with a coaster with a matching lamp shade on the ceiling lights overhead basking the room in an array of colours. A small kitchen red oak counter with a small fridge, sink, kettle and microwave, were found at the back of the room a cupboard beside the small fridge with room for snacks and nibbles. There was also a small round dining table with four chairs around it all in pale pine oak wood.

Serena couldn't help but smile at the amount of colour in the room, Maria explained "well basement rooms don't get any light being at below ground level, so might as well put as many bright lights and colours in as you can right?"

"Couldn't agree more Maria" Serena smiled, it felt odd calling her aunt now, seeing as she'd agreed to a date with her son only days ago.

Her school had agreed that Serena would be able to study all of her class assignments at home for the following week as it would be easier that travelling the distance to and from St Artemis every day and end up late for classes.

Setting up a work space on the small table in her basement guest house, Serena drew up a timetable of activities for each day of the week to focus on certain assignments as well as prioritising her training and any other activities on it. Once printed off and put on a small notice board she'd bought at the mall, Serena would managed her priorities quickly and effectively, leaving her plenty of time to practice her ice skating in the evening times.

Darien was amazed at her time management skills and how driven Serena had become in succeeding in everything she did. He got up on the first morning of her stay, for school in the morning to find her making some breakfast, only to find out she'd been up since 6am and had been jogging and doing some Pilates stretches whilst listening to the morning radio via the cable channels on the television. Throughout the week she got up at 6am to jog and exercise, get shower, dressed, then have breakfast, sit and do three subjects of study in the morning and then breaking for lunch and a walk, then returned at 1.30 pm each day to study another three subjects.

Darien would come down to the basement to study with her after school to find she had finished all of her work and had even organised her work into what was still in the process of being done and what had been completed to send back to her school. Although Darien admired her work during the day that was nothing compared to her work at night. After studying all day on her school assignments, Serena would then have a light dinner that she would prepare for herself, offering some to Darien and his parents if they were interested in trying it and would then dress and leave for the ice rink in her little 'Serena mobile' as Yates had put it.

At one point Darien had offered to drive Serena to her training session at the ice rink, she shook her head and said "Thanks Darien but I tend to train quite late and I wouldn't want to pull you away from anything just to come and get me"

"I have nothing to do right now" Darien chuckled "In case you hadn't noticed, my friends are now all occupied with their desired others and I have nothing else to do, beside I like watching you skate"

Serena gave him an apologetic smile "I'm really sorry Darien but my coach doesn't like people coming with me to training sessions, she thinks I might get distracted, but I tell you what, I finish at around 7.30, why don't we hang out when I get back?"

Darien sniffed in mock disappointment as he said "ok, I'll wait"

That evening, Darien came home 7.30 after hanging out with Malcolm before his date with Mina, making his way to the basement door to meet with Serena, when his mom said "oh Darien I wouldn't go down there right now, I went down there a little while ago to see if she wanted to come and join us for a snack and she was spark out asleep on the couch"

"Are you serious?" Darien said

Maria chuckled at Darien's concerned expression "Yes, she likes to keep herself busy doesn't she? Serena's working really hard for this try out next weekend; maybe you should plan to do something nice with her when it's over Darien, get your friends together and go somewhere fun or something"

"Already taken care of it Mom" Darien said with a cheeky wink before turning back to the basement door "I think I'll just check if she's still sleeping on the couch, no doubt she'll get uncomfortable on there eventually"

Before his mom could delve into his plans with Serena once her try out was over, Darien quietly made his way down the basement stairs to find Serena was still sound asleep on the couch. Her ice skates were sitting on the floor by the couch, wearing her pink 'cutie' tracksuit, with ankle warmers and thick socks on her feet, her long golden hair loose, and falling over the edge of the couch almost like a cascade of gold, silken splendour.

Kneeling beside her and gently stroking his fingers gently down Serena's delicate face, Darien shook his head as he spoke in a hushed tone "You work too hard even for me"

Straightening up, Darien gently lifted Serena into his arms and carried her to the guest bedroom. Putting her gently down onto the bed, Darien covered her with the duvet and with another gentle caress of her face, placed a soft chaste kiss on her cheek as he said "Sleep well, Ice Bunny"

* * *

><p>With the week leading up to Serena's Olympic try out and the Homecoming dance bound to be busy for everyone, Darien suggested to his friends whether they could hang out together on the Saturday before then.<p>

Calling all of his friends for an emergency meeting, Darien arranged to meet Jed, Nathan, Zach and Malcolm at his house whilst Serena was out practicing at the ice rink. The only down side to this was that every one of them brought their 'significant other' with them…and normally this wouldn't be a problem, as it would be good to discuss this kind of things with the girls as well to see if he could get Serena to relax a little before the big try out the following weekend, but every time he so much as tried to bring up the subject his friends would be too busy, sharing flirtatious looks, blowing kisses or just plain kissing in Mina and Malcolm's case.

Losing patience with his friends, Darien was about to start yelling, when all of a sudden the flirty boys and girls all got whacked on the head with a rolled up newspaper as Darien looked to see his mother Maria had come into the room "Hey! Your friend's trying to talk to you boys, put those girls down now!"

Groaning a little, Darien smiled appreciatively at his mother as she joined in the conversation "I can only guess that what my son is trying to tell you all is that over the last week we've seen how hard Serena's working for this try out. We barely even know she's here half the time and when she is here, Serena's either studying or having to rest after practicing"

Mina wore an expression of guilt "Oh my gosh I totally forgot about Serena"

"Oh yeah, she's come to stay for her try out next week right?" Raye asked

Lita wore a guilty expression as well "Poor Serena, we've been so wrapped up with the guys we've forgotten she needs taking out of her routine sometimes"

Turning to Maria, Mina said "we're sorry Mrs Shields, Serena gets like this before a tournament probably double that, seeing as it's for the Winter Olympics; it's been Serena's dream since she was really little"

"It alright girls, it's not you I blame it's these boys" Maria said wapping them all with newspaper again "If there's one thing you've got to know about boys, ladies is that you have to tell them what 'no' means"

A laugh came from over by the kitchen door "Giving our friends a life lesson, Maria"

Turning to see a very tired but smiley Serena in the doorway, Maria ran over to give her a hug "I most certainly am honey, oh Serena you look so tired again, you should go have a nice hot bath, I just got a lovely new bath salts collection in town for you, why not give them a try huh?"

Serena smiled sweetly "Oh I'm ok Maria, you didn't have to go to so much trouble for me"

"Oh no" Maria chuckled as she cuddled Serena to her "It's no trouble Sweetie, I just want to help you relax whilst you're here"

All of a sudden four other pairs of arms wrapped around Serena crying out simultaneously "We're sorry!"

Laughing at her friends' sudden reaction, Serena laughed tiredly "For what?"

"Aw Sere you've been here the whole week and we've been so wrapped up with the guys, we haven't spent any time with you yet" Amy said guiltily.

Lita sniffled "Yeah and we have missed you, we really should be hanging out with you more"

Maria stepped in front of the girls and turned to the boys sitting at the dinner table "Right that's it boys, dating intervention!"

The boys exclaimed in shock "Huh?!"

"None of you are to interact with these girls this weekend you got it!" Maria said sternly "the point in keeping a lady interested is to give her some breathing space, that and Serena could really use some relaxation"

Darien nodded with a concerned expression "It's true you guys, I've been watching Serena all week and I be honest, just watching her is making me tired"

Chuckling a little at their words, Serena said "Oh you guys don't need to worry that much I'm fine, I always work like this"

"Yes but usually at least you have me to distract you from it for a while" Mina said with shining teary eyes filled with guilt as she took her cousin's face in her hands and started shaking her in an almost comical "and now I've left you alone too long you look all tired and sleepy, I don't like it Serena, you've gone from adorable to sleepy tired face!"

Serena laughed "I'm fine!"

Maria nodded with a kind smile "that and you can't skate well if you're tired Sweetheart, that could be dangerous, you could hurt yourself, so let's run you a nice hot bath with some bath salts, I think I might have some bubble bath left in the guest bathroom too"

Her shoulders relaxing, Serena sighed as Maria took her by the hand and led her towards the basement stairs. Once out of earshot, Darien said to the guys "Mom's right you guys, no girlfriends until Monday. Serena really needs some time to unwind this weekend and I really think a little girl time could help her do that"

Zach sighed "Serena did look really tired"

"Seems this try out has her on overdrive huh" Malcolm asked as Mina sat beside him

"Yeah" Raye smiled as she looked to the girls "So girls you know what that means don't you?"

Lita laughed "Well Homecoming is only a week away"

"I know I haven't picked a dress yet" Mina smiled

Amy smiled bashfully "I wouldn't mind looking at some of the manicures for that new nail art that's popular right now"

Raye giggled "That and I know an ice cream parlour that Serena would just love"

"Girl's day out!" the girls cheered together and before anyone could stop them, they disappeared after Mrs Shields to plan everything and ask if maybe she would like to join in.

* * *

><p>The next morning Serena awoke early, ready and determined to face the day. Walking over to the wardrobe nearest her bed, Serena pulled out a zip up garment bag and placed it on the front of the wardrobe door before closing it.<p>

Unzipping the bag, Serena took it off of the front of the wardrobe door and approached her bedroom door. Sadly the only full length mirror on the basement floor was in the main living area between the lounge and the make shift kitchen.

Looking out of the bedroom door to make sure no one was coming down the basement stairs, Serena stepped out and approached the mirror to and pulled the unzipped garment bag against her with the open side facing the mirror.

Going through all of the preparations for her costume appearance for the try out Serena soon became distracted with her own thoughts when all of a sudden she heard a gasp from behind her.

Turning abruptly at the sound, Serena now found an awestruck Maria standing at the base of the stairs with a breakfast tray in her hands, looking at her as if looking at her daughter about to go to the prom. "Oh Serena, that is just beautiful"

Serena looked at her slightly panicked "Maria there's no one else with you is there?"

"No sweetheart just me, thought I'd come and have some breakfast with you, seeing as I was up early and all" Maria smiled warmly as she placed the breakfast tray on the dining table and walked over to Serena. Touching a hand to the item inside the garment bag, Maria couldn't help but smile in admiration "Is this for your try out next week?"

Serena nodded with a smile "Yeah, sorry about that, I just like my costumes to be a surprise for the day of a tournament or competition; I feel it adds more to the experience"

"It's ok Honey" Maria chuckled gesturing to the tray full of croissants, pancakes, fruit and oranges as she said "I understand, it's your way of doing things and your mom is going to cry so much when she see you in this next week"

Rolling her eyes as she sat a cross from Maria, Serena said "I know, I better tell dad to bring some tissues"

Placing a hand over Serena's dainty ones, Maria said "I just want you to know, how much I admire you for your hard work Serena, this dream is clearly everything to you and you work so diligently, but you know it is ok to take a break and relax every now and then"

Serena stuttered "Oh but… I…the try out is only a week away…"

"And you're going to be amazing!" Maria said with a gentle smile "but you need to unwind a little before then, so you can be sharp on your feet when the time comes, ok?"

With a sigh, Serena nodded her understanding and went to put her skating costume away before coming back to sit at the table, only to find that Mina, Raye, Lita and Amy had turned up when she came back "Huh? What are you girls doing here at this time in the morning?"

"Well you know what they say" Mina said "If girls are going to fit everything fun into one weekend, we have to start early"

Amy sighed as the other girl's laughed "that's not a common phrase Mina"

"No but the sentiments are right for why we came here" Mina winked back at Amy before grabbing a pancake "Plus there are pancakes on the table, like you wouldn't get me in here for that?"

The girls and Maria laughed as Mina helped herself; Raye turned to Serena and said "we thought seeing as your only here for a little while, we'd have a girl's weekend, just us! No guys allowed!"

Lita laughed "We can go bowling if you want too"

"See a chick flick" Mina added in

Amy chimed in with her own suggestion "Get manicures"

"Go dress shopping for Homecoming" Raye added on the end

The girls all exclaimed "Raye!"

"What? Like she wouldn't figure it out when we hit every dress shop in town" Raye said with a shrug "You all need to look for one too right?"

With a sigh, the girls all nodded as Maria giggled "Oh this sounds like such fun!"

"Why don't you come with, Mrs S" Lita asked

Mina nodded "Yeah! It'll be fun"

"Oh I wouldn't want to cramp your style girls" Maria said

Amy came to stand behind Maria as she said "Come on you deserve to treat yourself sometimes, when was the last time you went out and bought a nice outfit?"

"Or got your hair done?" Raye added in

Mina added "Had a Mani-Pedi?"

"Or even just went to see a movie that you like?" Lita said

Serena giggled "To be honest Maria, I very rarely see you come in the house with something that was strictly for yourself"

Maria said "Oh… I don't know"

The girls all stood in front of her, with big shiny eyes "Plllleeeeaaaassssee!"

Maria laughed "Oh alright, let me go get ready!"

The girls cheered and dragged Serena off into her own room to get ready

* * *

><p>So the girls and Maria had the time of their lives, they went first to the nail salon to get their nails done, all of them getting their desired colours in metallic nail polish. Then they hit the hair salon, the girls choosing to keep their length but have a nice up do or have curls.<p>

The rest of the day was spent moving to various clothing and dress shops looking for the ideal homecoming dress and something nice for Maria for herself.

As Serena was looking through the various racks to see if she could find something nice, she felt someone crash into her back. Turning to find out who had crashed into her, she saw a red headed girl on the floor in the store uniform "Oh my gosh! I'm sorry" Serena said, helping to pick up the various dresses that had flown out of the girl's hands.

The red-head straightened up before scurrying to pick up the clothes she had dropped stuttering "Oh no I'm sorry ma'am I didn't mean to crash into you like that….Serena?"

Looking up at the girl more closely, Serena recognised her old junior high friend "Molly?"

The dresses went cascading everywhere again, as Molly threw her arms around her squealing excitedly "Oh my Gosh! I can't believe you're here I haven't seen you in forever!"

"I can't believe it's you! It's so good to see you" Serena smiled "How long have you been working here?"

"Oh for a while now, but forget about me, how are you?" Molly smiled brightly "the last time I saw you, you were moving to St Artemis"

"Yeah I did, I'm in town for a few days preparing for a figure skating try out" Serena said

Molly gasped "You're still skating? Oh I used to love coming to watch you skate it was like watching a ballerina on ice. When's your try out, I would love to come watch"

"It's next Saturday" Serena said with a smile

Molly's smile faded slightly as she said "oh that's the weekend of the Homecoming Dance at my school…although with the state of things at the moment, I may not be going"

Serena looked at her friend in concern "Why not Molly?"

"Oh Serena, you remember Melvin right?" Molly asked

Serena nodded "Of course I do, he practically followed you around like a puppy dog"

"Well we've been dating now for the last couple years and he's asked me to go the dance next weekend" Molly said with a sigh "But for some reason over the last week or so Beryl Johnson and her friends seem to have been harassing him all week and I get the feeling he's too afraid of being bullied by them again"

Serena asked "Why?"

"Well" Molly sighed "Melvin told me about an incident that happened a little while ago at school; apparently it has something to do with Darien Shield's friend Zach"

Mina overheard this and asked "What's that about Darien's car?"

Molly sighed "I'm not entirely sure, all I know is that Melvin saw Beryl's friends Anne and Emerald harassing Zach about a tape that he had…something about it being to do with some damage done to Darien's car, apparently they found out that Melvin overheard them and safe to say if they had something to hide they'd be trying to get him to keep quiet about it, that Beryl is just horrible!"

Serena looked at Molly with a sad expression "What do you think they've been saying to him Molly?"

Molly tearfully said "I don't know but I have a feeling it must be to do with me, he's been keeping his distance from me a lot lately and I don't know why"

Comforting her friend, Serena turned to the girls and asked if she could stay with Molly whilst they continued their shopping. Mina staying with Serena and Molly too said she would call the girls stating she would call them when they were ready to meet up.


	21. Chapter 19

**1,2,3 Be With Me**

_Author's Notes_

_Hey guys just to let you know that the chapters after this will be getting longer if I can make them longer, I'm just posting the ones I've had ready up until now before focussing on the new stuff. The ball is well and truly rolling again but I'll stop talking now and just get on with it as I know you've been waiting ages lol. Enjoy ^_^_

**_DISCLAIMER: I DON'T OWN SAILOR MOON OR ANY OF IT'S__ CHARACTERS_**

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><p><span><strong>Chapter 19<strong>

After convincing Molly's manager to let her go for an early lunch break, Serena and Mina took their friend to a small café and let her tell them about all of the details of what was bothering her. She told them about over hearing Zach talking with Anne and Emerald regarding the incident with Darien's car and blackmailing him with some kind of picture they'd taken of Anne and Zach together. Molly also told them about Melvin approaching Zach at the bowling alley and offering to be a witness on his behalf after telling them what he had seen.

Molly then went on to tell Serena and Mina about seeing Melvin talking to Beryl and Anne earlier that week. "I was on my way to meet him at his locker before walking home together, like I usually did, but when I approached Beryl and Anne were stood with him talking and laughing in that mean way they always do, those girls make me so uncomfortable, I could tell they were tormenting him again as they always do"

"Do you know what they might have been talking to him about Molly?" Mina asked

Shaking her head with a sad expression on her face, Molly sighed "Sadly I was too far away to hear what they were saying but…"

_Flashback_

_The end of the school day had finally arrived and Molly had just finished putting her spare books in her locker,collected her book bag from it and was on her way to meet with her sweet Melvin to walk home for the evening. She was excited about their little date to the movie this evening as they were going to see a movie that she had been dying to see for a while now, the new Disney movie 'Frozen'. She was just round the corner in the hallway that led down towards Melvin's locker when she saw him standing in front of it. Waving to try and get his attention, Molly froze as she saw their ever familiar school tormentors, Beryl and Anne standing in front of Melvin. _

_Melvin was looking very nervous and almost scared as they kept smirking and sneering at him as they carried on talking. All too soon they shoved him back against his locker and walked off laughing cruelly. Rushing over to Melvin's side, Molly asked "Melvin, were those horrible girls bothering you again? Are you alright?"_

"_Oh…Hi Molly…uh…no everything's fine" Melvin said with something of a nervous laugh as he cleared his throat and carried on saying "Listen I'm going to have to cancel our date tonight, I' m not feeling all that good, must have been something I ate at lunch or something"_

"_Oh no, you're sick? Well that's ok we can just go straight home tonight, we can always go to the movies another night right?"_

"_Actually Molly I'm kind of busy over the weekend, I'll call you sometime ok? Bye"_

_And with that Melvin slammed his locker shut and ran off, leaving a confused and neglected Molly to watch after him as he left._

_End of flashback_

Looking at Molly in great concern Serena and Mina continued to listen as she went on to say "I just don't know why he would distance himself from me like this I mean I've tried everything I can think of, I've even tried calling him at home and visiting his house like I normally do after school but Melvin just won't talk to me" Molly wept "It's almost like he's scared to be seen with me, I just don't understand what they could have said to him to make him like this around me and with the dance being so close now, I'm starting to wonder whether we'll be going at all let alone together"

"Oh Molly I'm so sorry to hear this is affecting you like this, Beryl has no right to do this" Serena said

Mina nodded smiling kindly "Don't worry about this ok? All you need to worry about is your dress and how good you're going to look in it"

Molly gave them a sad smile as she said "Thanks for listening to me girls, so much has happened since we saw that whole thing with Zach and Anne, I've just had no one to talk to about this"

"Well I know I'm not always here but you can always call or email me Molly" Serena smiled "You still have my contact details right?"

"Oh of course I do" Molly giggled "I'd never lose something like that" checking the time on her watch, Molly gasped "Oh look at that, my break just flew by in a matter of seconds, thanks for talking with me girls I feel a little better now, see you soon ok?"

After saying a cheery goodbye to their friend, Serena and Mina looked to each other in concern as Serena asked "You know I was there when Darien's oil tank was trashed, we had to stay in the bowling alley parking lot watching it leak onto the floor before Darien's dad turned up and called a repair man, you don't think this is going to cause any trouble for us too do you?"

"I don't know" Mina said "But I'll be damned if we let that rotten, spoiled bitch ruin that homecoming dance for anyone! Come on we better catch up with the girls"

With that Serena and Mina contacted Raye and met with the girls in a dress shop not too far from the café they had been sitting in.

* * *

><p>After waiting around all day at home with the guys playing Xbox games, drinking sodas and just plain doing very little all day, Darien and the guys, all turned to attention when they turned to see Serena and their girlfriends all coming through the door of Darien's house.<p>

Darien was surprised to see that his Mom looked nicer than normal. She was wearing a lovely navy blue lace bodice dress with long sleeves, with black leather cross strap court shoes, her hair curled to perfection, falling to sit just under the jawline and delicate set of pearl earrings matching the single pearl pendant that sat gracefully around her neck.

Jed gave a whistle as he said "Whoa, looking good Mrs S"

"Dude that's my Mom" Darien said giving Jed a thump

Jed smirked with a shrug "Yeah and she looks hot!"

Just then they heard Mr Shields coming back from the kitchen calling in "Hey guys do you want pizza or burgers…." His eyes took in his wife's appearance and within seconds, Damien Shield's was reduced to a stammering idiot.

Giggling like crazy, Serena put her bags on the floor and gave Maria a hug as she said "I hope you don't mind Damien but we thought Maria could use a little me time today and gave her a makeover, do you like it?"

Damien just stared then stammered some more, then nodded slowly. Maria could only chuckle as Serena said "Then our work here is done, girls shall we get our movie slumber party on?"

A cheer of yeah filled the air before Serena and the other girls disappeared down stairs. Damien approached Maria casually as he said "Honey you look…"

"Different? Better?" Maria asked

Damien smiled as he said "Gorgeous! Just incredibly gorgeous!"

Maria smiled with a blush "Why thank you, I think so too"

Damien turned to the boys and said "Hey boys I'm going to leave a $20 in the kitchen why not order a pizza or whatever you want in?"

"You're not going to hang with us tonight dad?" Darien asked smirking to his friends

Damien turned and gave his wife an appreciative smile "Are you kidding? I'm going on a date with my wife"

With that Damien took off upstairs threw on his best casual suit, cologne and shoes, ran a comb through his hair and was back down the stairs in seconds. A warm smile spread across Darien's face as his parents turn to them and said "Don't wait up" and headed out for a date they hadn't had in the last year.

* * *

><p>So that evening whilst the girls held their little slumber party in the basement, Darien had the guys stay over for some guy fun of their own. They were just laughing and talking casually when Mina came upstairs whilst the other girls looked over their dresses for homecoming.<p>

Approaching Malcolm and sitting beside him, Mina said "I need to ask you boys about something and I want nothing but honesty from you got it?"

Nodding to Mina's request and turning to listen to her intently, Mina started to explain about how she and Serena had run into Molly at the shopping mall and how they had been told about Zach being blackmailed by Anne and Emerald. She then went on to tell them about how Melvin had now been approached by Beryl and Anne and was now avoiding Molly like the plague.

"Now I don't know why Melvin would choose to avoid Molly like this, from what I gathered through my time staying here with Serena when we were kids, Melvin couldn't spend any time away from Molly if he tried too and Molly knows that too" Mina said "Which is why I'm going to ask, have we got something to worry about with Beryl and her cronies? Because from the way things are going and from what I know of her cheerleading history Beryl does anything to get what she wants!"

Zach sighed heavily "These girls are too clever sometimes you know that?"

Nathan could see Zach was starting to get nervous "Hey man, don't freak out ok, we're going to make sure she pays for this, she can try and blackmail us all she wants, she will not get her hands on that tape!"

"Damn right she won't! Not when it's in my hands anyway" Malcolm said

Mina turned to Malcolm with great concern "Malcolm please! Serena was there the night Darien's car was trashed she told me herself and if this girl is going to be approaching her the way she's approached Zach and Melvin I need to know what's going on! I don't want my cousin or my friends hurt in this stupid thing so someone better start explaining what's going on!"

So the boys started explaining about how Zach had managed to catch Beryl trashing Darien's car that night at the bowling alley on tape and showed her the tape on Malcolm's laptop. Zach then explained that Anne had conveniently taken a picture with him and kissed him before Emerald hit the shutter on the camera. They were blackmailing him with Amy in order to keep him quiet. He then explained again how Melvin had overheard their conversation at the bowling alley and offered to stand as a witness.

"I'm guessing those harpies must have found out about his offer somehow and are now threatening him with something, I'm guessing something to do with Molly otherwise he wouldn't be keeping his distance from her like that"

"Have you handed the tape to the police?" Mina asked

Darien winced "Not just yet, I mean we all gave a statement apart from Serena because she'd already gone home but most of us that were there have given a statement to the police, they just need this evidence in order to press charges"

"Then why haven't you given it to the police yet?" Mina asked

Malcolm said "Because we have been harassed by these girls since the beginning of junior high and it is getting really annoying, so we are trying to beat them at their own game! For once we have something on them that they do not want anyone to know about and it's making them nervous so they are going to threaten and try to lie their way out of it in any way they know how"

"And instead of getting them arrested you're going to play around with their heads, even at the risk of hurting other people?" Mina asked "That's cruel even for you guys"

"Mina we are not out to hurt anyone else other than these three girls" Malcolm said trying to keep her calm

Mina turned to him in anger "No! That may be your intention Malcolm but you are unintentionally ringing in other people who have nothing to do with this situation! Think of Molly, she's now going out of her mind thinking her boyfriend doesn't love her anymore! What about Amy? Have you thought about what this might do to her self-esteem if she ends up seeing that picture? Zach definitely wouldn't stand a chance again after seeing that, she'd think he was playing another cruel joke on her! And what about Serena? Have you thought about what this might do if Beryl were to find out she was there that night? You know how much that girl hates Serena! In fact if memory serves you were all there enough times to witness how much Beryl hates Serena"

"We know but Mina" Malcolm pleaded

"No Malcolm!" Mina shot at him keeping her voice low "Either you deal with this properly by handing that evidence to the police like originally intended or I will do it for you! You will not hurt my cousin or my friends again, no matter how unintentional it might be I will not forgive you!"

With that Mina disappeared downstairs leaving the boys to think more carefully about the plans they had put in place or Beryl and their tape.


End file.
